DEMAND for housing and mortgages is likely to continue to expand to the end of the decade the chairman of the Irish Mortgage and Savings Association, Mr Michael Fingleton, has said.
The run up to European Monetary Union will create strong pressure for low and stable interest rates, he said in the association's 1996/1997 annual review.
Demand for mortgages accelerated during the last quarter of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997, according to the association.
The members of the association are Irish Permanent, First National, EBS, ICS, Irish Nationwide, Irish Life and Norwich Irish.
Referring to criticism in the media that mortgage lenders might be over lending, Mr Fingleton said it was the view of the association that it was the housing market which was overheating and not the mortgage market.
Overall lending by the association's members during 1996 increased by 34 per cent to £1,733 million. Residential mortgages increased by 32 per cent to £1,462 million.
The number of mortgage accounts increased by 13 per cent and the size of the mortgage portfolio by 16 per cent. At the end of 1996 members had 286,004 mortgages, totalling £7,913 million.
This figure represented 60 per cent of all mortgages outstanding, giving an overall figure of £13,188 million.
The overall level of arrears fell during the year as did the number of properties taken into possession.
A total of 178 properties including commercial, were repossessed. Of these 76 had been surrendered or abandoned.
Mr Fingleton expressed concern about the Credit Union Act 1997. He said the capacity for growth in terms of market size and scope which was allowed to the credit unions though the new legislation was not matched by sufficient regulatory controls, such as those which applied to other institutions providing comparable services.
