New mortgage rates almost 1% higher than European average

Interest rates for new mortgages grew by an average of 25 basis points from August to September, statistics from the Central Bank showed today, with the average rate standing at 3.47 per cent at end-September 2014. This compares with a corresponding interest rate of 2.51 pe rcent, 96 basis points lower than the Irish average.

With regards to outstanding mortgages, the Central Bank said that the average interest rate on outstanding mortgages was 2.74 per cent in September, 49 basis points higher than the equivalent euro area rate of 3.23 per cent.

However Brendan Burgess, consumer advocate and founder of Askaboutmoney.com has disputed the Central bank's figures.

“Bizarrely, the Central Bank is claiming that the rate has increased over the last month. While the true interest rate is far higher than the rate reported by the Central Bank, no lender has increased their rates for new business since June of this year,” he said.

Mr Burgess also highlighted that the Central Bank continues to include cheap trackers as new business, “despite the fact that no lender has issued a tracker to any new customer since 2008”.

“The Central Bank should be promoting competition in the Irish mortgage market for the benefit of borrowers. Instead it is suppressing competition by publishing wrong data which pretends that the rates for new business are lower than they actually are,” he said, pointing out that Irish borrowers are paying around 4.3 per cent on average for new business - almost 1.8 per cent above the average in the euro area.

According to the Central Bank statistics, the average interest rate on personal loans rose to 7.46 per cent at end-September, up by 11 basis points on the month, and by 102 basis points since September 2013.

Savers saw interest rates fall to 0.57 per cent at end-September, down by 22 basis points on the same month in 2014.