There were 1,167 mortgages approved in March, to the value of €196 million, according to the Irish Banking Federation. Some €186 million of this was for house purchase.

The IBF says the figure represents a volume increase of 6.8 per cent and a value increase of 15.9 per cent over the same month last year.

However, approvals for houses purchases fell by 8.2 per cent year-on-year.

The average mortgage approval value was €167,772 in March, up 2.6 per cent on the average value in March 2012. The average mortgage for house purchase rose by 1.5 per cent year-on-year to €174,706.

Some 1,093 mortgages to the value of €169 million were approved by lenders in Ireland during February according to the IBF Mortgage Approvals Report, with the average mortgage totalling €160,695.