What this rate measures
Each month, banks lending in Ireland report to the Central Bank of Ireland the rate and amount of every new mortgage they agree with a household. The Bank publishes the results in its retail interest rate statistics, and this page takes its headline figure from Table B.2.1: the weighted average rate on new mortgage agreements, excluding renegotiations of loans people already have. It is the figure the Bank's own monthly release leads with.
It averages fixed and variable loans together, weighting each by how much was lent that month, so a month in which more borrowers choose a cheaper fix pulls the average down even if no lender changes a price. It is the agreed rate on the loan, so it leaves out fees, and it says nothing about the rate on mortgages already outstanding.
The ECB publishes its own composite for Ireland from the same reports, using a moving-average weighting so it can be compared across the euro area. The two can differ by a tenth of a point or more; this page uses the Central Bank's figure because it is the one Irish lenders and news reports refer to.
Fixed, tracker and variable rates
You will meet three kinds of Irish mortgage rate, and they respond to the ECB very differently.
- Fixed rates hold for a period you choose, commonly from one to ten years, and most new borrowers now fix. A lender prices a new fix from market rates for that period, which move with expectations of the ECB deposit facility rate, so new fixed rates can change before the ECB does. Your rate does not move during the fixed period.
- Tracker mortgages follow a published rate plus a fixed margin, typically the ECB main refinancing rate, as the Central Bank explains. They move by exactly the amount the ECB moves. They are held by borrowers who took them out years ago and are not offered to new borrowers, so they barely feature in this series.
- Standard variable rates (SVR) are set by each lender. They tend to follow ECB decisions in the same direction, but the lender decides when and by how much, and they are usually dearer than fixing. Borrowers often move to an SVR when a fixed period ends without choosing a new one, so check the letter your lender sends before your fix ends.
How much you can borrow
The Central Bank's mortgage measures limit the size of a loan, whatever the rate. You can borrow at most 4 times your gross income as a first-time buyer, or 3.5 times as a second or subsequent buyer, and first-time and second or subsequent buyers need a deposit of at least 10%, so a loan of at most 90% of the price. Buy-to-let buyers need 30%. Lenders may go above the limits for a set share of their lending each year: 15% of first-time buyer lending and 15% of second and subsequent buyer lending.
Comparing it with a quote
Read this line as the level of the market. Your own rate depends on the fix you choose, your loan-to-value, and often on discounts for a lower loan-to-value or a green home. Compare quotes for the same fixed period and use the APRC in each offer, which includes fees.
Put a quote into the mortgage calculator for Ireland, check your borrowing against the income limit with the debt-to-income calculator, and weigh buying against renting with the rent vs buy calculator.
Reading the chart and the table
Each point is one month, dated the first of the month it covers. The series begins in December 2014, when the Central Bank started separating renegotiated loans from new ones. From November 2025 it extended its collection to every bank authorised in the State, and it revises earlier months, so a figure here can differ from the one first printed in a monthly release. The table lists every month and the CSV download carries the Bank's own values.