Loans to Irish households fell in October, driven by a €249 million decline in mortgage lending, according to new statistics from the Central Bank.

The money and banking statistics show loans to households fell by 3.8 per cent in October. Loans for house purchase, which account for 81 per cent of total household loans, declined at an annual rate of 3 per cent.

The amount repaid during the month exceeded drawdowns by €576 million. Developments in the month were mainly driven by a €249 million decline in mortgage lending. In the case of loans for house purchase, repayments have exceeded drawdowns by €2.1 billion in the year to date.

Lending for consumption and other purposes, which accounts for about 23 per cent of total household lending, fell by 7 per cent year-on-year.

Irish household deposits rose by €707 million in October, and have increased by €979 million so far in 2014.

Merrion economist Alan McQuaid said many Irish households are still burdened with a huge level of outstanding debt and are in no hurry to add to that load.

“The credit problem is not just unique to Ireland, with general weakness in lending across the Eurozone, which the European Central Bank has tried to address through a number of stimulus measures,” he said.

“But the fundamental problem remains that the ECB is only one player on the pitch and it requires support from politicians via structural reforms and fiscal policy,” he added.

Meanwhile, loans to non-financial corporations exceeded repayments by €261 million in October, reversing a trend of steady decline in recent months.

Non-financial corporation deposits increased by €2.3 billion in October, and net inflows for the year to date amounted to €4.4 billion.

Credit institutions’ borrowings from the Central Bank as part of Eurosystem monetary policy operations increased by €1.5 billion in October 2014. The outstanding stock of these borrowings increased to €20.5 billion at end-October.