Steep decline in demand from movers and buy-to-let investors in particular, new figures from BPFI show
Lenders approved 3,034 mortgages in January 2026. First-time buyers (FTBs) made up the bulk of that at almost 60pc. Even so the number of first-time buyers was down on the same time a year earlier – dropping 7pc.
The bigger falls though were among movers and buy-to-let investors. Movers were approved for 565 mortgages in January 2026, down 23.3pc on the same month a year before and the lowest level of activity in the segment of the markets since June 2020.
BPFI CEO, Brian Hayes, pointed to the ongoing lack of supply as a significant factor, including limited supply of second-hand homes.
“Housing supply remains constrained with market indicators, as well as the slowdown in mover purchase activity, pointing to limited supply of second-hand properties for sale,” he said.
The pipeline of new homes is also slowing, he warned
“There were only 17,275 housing starts in the 12 months ending January 2026, about half the level in the 12 months ending January 2024.”
The January mortgage data also shows a decline in investors seeking new loans – down 23pc.
That’s in line with warnings from estate agents and other industry voices who’ve said smaller landlords – who typically buy with an investment mortgage – are being squeezed out of the market. However, it is out of line with the experience of mortgage lender Dilosk, which trades as ICS Mortagges, and earlier this month reported a 45pc increase in buy-to-let mortgage applications in 2026, compared with the same period last year.
Dilosk’s most recent financial results, for 2024, showed 22pc of its balance sheet was made up of buy-to-let loans making it an important part of its overall business.
Meanwhile, the BPFI data shows the value of mortgages approved in January slipped below €1bn – to €954m.·
The number of mortgages approved fell by 13.4pc month-on-month and fell by 10.6pc compared with the same period last year.
Brian Hayes said approval activity declined in most segments in year-on-year terms in January 2026, though he cautioned December through February tend to be less busy than other times of the year.
“Looking more broadly at the annualised figures, we see that there were 52,903 mortgage approvals in the 12 months ending January 2026, valued at almost €16.9bn.
This indicates that, despite the recent slowdown, the pipeline for mortgage drawdowns (which reached about 46,000 in 2025) remains strong, reflecting robust mortgage and housing demand,” he said.