It's uneconomic for Irish banks to lend at less than 4%

[NorfBank]

Article by Pat McArdle in today's Irish Times, sheds some light on reasons why mortgage rates are on the up and must continue to rise in order for the banks to lend more freely.

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[phantom60]

He mentions....... "To sum up, recent mortgage rate increases have been confined largely to the Irish-owned banks, with four of the five foreign retailers leaving their rates unchanged".

Would this imply that the Irish-owned banks are more likely to be increasing their rates more/more often than the foreign retailers in the next couple of years ?

 

[Pope John 11]

He mentions....... "To sum up, recent mortgage rate increases have been confined largely to the Irish-owned banks, with four of the five foreign retailers leaving their rates unchanged".

Would this imply that the Irish-owned banks are more likely to be increasing their rates more/more often than the foreign retailers in the next couple of years ?

This is something I was thinking about too, in relation to the likes of KBC etc. Interested to know what others think

 

[Chris]

He mentions....... "To sum up, recent mortgage rate increases have been confined largely to the Irish-owned banks, with four of the five foreign retailers leaving their rates unchanged".

Would this imply that the Irish-owned banks are more likely to be increasing their rates more/more often than the foreign retailers in the next couple of years ?

Technically yes. However, a business will always charge as much as it can to maximise profits without losing customers. As the spread between foreign and domestic banks' rates increases, the demand for foreign banks' mortgages will increase, which will eventually lead to those banks increasing their rates, because people will be willing to pay.