Mortgage lending last year was at its highest since the housing crash, new figures show. Total mortgage lending was worth €14.1bn -- mostly fuelled by first-time buyers. First-time buyers remain the single largest segment by volume, at almost 50%.

The borrowing boom continued despite the European Central Bank raising interest rates four times since July. Another rate hike of at least 0.5% is expected when the bank's governors meet tomorrow.

However, the amount is little more than half the record €23bn lent out in 2008, just before the housing market crashed. In 2009, the total mortgage market collapsed to just €8bn.

In all, 15,888 new mortgages, to the value of €4.4bn, were drawn down by borrowers in the final three months of 2022, which was an increase of 19.5% in volume and 31.5% in value compared to a year earlier, figures from the Banking and Payments Federation (BPFI) show.

The totals represented to an increase of 7% in volume and 7.3% in value from the third quarter. For the full year, 52,634 mortgages worth €14.1bn were drawn down, equating to annual increases of 21% in volume terms and 34.3% in value terms.

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BPFI chief Brian Hayes said: "Our latest mortgage data which provides an annual picture for 2022, shows significant numbers of both drawdowns and approvals and a particularly strong year for first-time buyers."

“Looking to the year ahead, we expect housing and mortgage demand to remain strong despite the challenging economic environment," he continued.

"Almost 108,000 FTB loans have been drawn down in the past five years and lenders will continue to support customers as they seek to buy or build a home."

(Pic: Getty Images)