Monthly statistics from the Central Bank show the first net fall in mortgage lending since 1990.The figures also show a sharp fall-off in credit card spending.
The figures for April from the Central Bank confirm the property market has slowed to a trickle.
It is the first time that repayments on existing mortgages has been greater that new mortgage lending since the Central Bank began this monthly statistics series in 1990.
The figures show that overall, mortgage lending fell by over €100m last month.
The amount of money loaned out in the rest of the economy also fell, reflecting concerns raised by many business groups about accessing credit.
People are also spending less on credit cards. The amount of money spent on credit cards by consumers in April fell by €180million compared to April of last year.
Apartment owners will have a greater say in the management of their complexes under new legislation published today by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.The Multi-Unit Developments Bill 2009 outlines legal protections that will affect over 500,000 apartment owners in new and existing complexes.
The Bill will set new standards for the operation of management companies and new rules for developers who build apartments.
Fine Gael welcomed the Bill, but said it was long-overdue.
Measures in the Bill include developers having to set up an ‘Owners Management Company’ prior to the sale of apartments.
The latest index from Permanent TSB and the ESRI has shown that house prices fell by almost 2% last month.This brings prices back to levels not seen since the summer months in 2004.
It means that prices nationally have fallen by almost 5% in the first four months of this year.
The average price paid for a house nationally in April 2009 was €248,640, compared with €261,573 in December and a peak of €311,078 in February 2007.
Houses in the first-time buyer category are falling at the fastest rate, down 7.9% already this year.
Niall O’Grady of Permanent TSB said: ‘This is the fastest rate of decline in national prices that we have seen to date since the index started in 1996.
‘The particularly dramatic reduction in prices for first-time buyers reflects their reluctance to buy in a market that is still declining and where unsold properties are being reduced further’
The Revenue Commissioners has begun writing to tens of thousands of homeowners whose mortgage interest relief has been stopped.
In the April Budget the tax relief was limited to homeowners in the first seven years of their loans.
Revenue is now asking 134,000 homeowners to clarify when their loans started to establish whether the relief still applies to them.
Before last month’s budget around 560,000 people qualified for mortgage interest relief.
Half of those receiving it had the relief stopped, of these 154,000 have been deemed ineligible.
Homeowners who are in this category are asked to take no action until Revenue contacts them.
Homeowners will be able to update details on www.revenue.ie or through their local tax office.
AIB has increased its estimate of how much it will have to set aside to cope with bad loans this year to €4.3bn.In a trading update issued to the Irish Stock Exchange, the bank blamed the worsening economic conditions in Ireland for the bigger charge.
It also said mortgage arrears in Ireland were climbing and stood at 2% of total mortgage loans at the end of March, compared with 1.5% at the end of December.
However, AIB said that when the bad debt charges were excluded its trading profits so far this year were ahead of the same period last year.
The Church of Ireland Primate has criticised some bank directors and executives for indulging in unnecessarily high risk strategies in the current economic crisis and said they should consider their positions.Archbishop Alan Harper told church members there was an urgent need for a completely new ethic in international banking, based on a powerful regulatory system.
Church of Ireland finances were being discussed by members gathered in Armagh for the General Synod.
But it was the fallout from the global economic crisis that the Primate of All-Ireland turned his attention to.
Referring to the role played by bank directors and executives, Archbishop Alan Harper said it was not acceptable that high-risk strategies should be allowed to threaten the deposits of customers and the investments of shareholders.
He said those in charge of financial institutions who were responsible for the economic crisis should consider their positions.
He also called for a new ethic internationally to replace the flawed economic ethics of the past.
There was a lively debate on education issues on both sides of the border.
Synod members expressed their anger about the implications for the financing of Protestant secondary schools in the Republic in areas such as Cork arising from changes introduced in the October budget.
The Synod concludes tomorrow, the first time it has been held over a weekend.
