The central bank confirms that no changes have been made to the mortgage rules

The rules dictating the amount of money that people can borrow for a home and the size of the required deposits must remain unchanged, the Central Bank said after a review.

The rules define the amount of credit that customers can borrow for a home loan and are in place to put an end to the over-indebtedness of banks and consumers.

A statement from the regulator says the rules ensure financial stability and protect consumers.

Introduced in 2015, the rules were credited with a slower pace of real estate price growth.

The Central Bank's badysis has shown that real estate price inflation is expected to continue to soften as a result of an increase in the number of homes built and higher sales of existing properties.

Central Bank Governor Philip Lane said, "Our badysis shows that, while the pace of growth of new mortgages is high, there have been few changes in LTVs (value loans) and LTIs (loans). income), a generalized deterioration in lending standards. On the basis of these results, no change is necessary in the current framework. "

He acknowledged that high house prices and rents posed serious affordability problems, but that more housing was needed.

"A fully functioning and sustainable housing market can not be achieved by tolerating reckless lending standards on the part of banks or by borrowing excessively by households," he said.

The Central Bank introduced the restrictions on mortgages for homebuyers in 2015 to avoid a repeat of the property crash.

They limit most clients to borrow more than three and a half times their income.

Some exceptions are allowed, with 20% of the value of new mortgages issued by each bank to those who buy for the first time beyond this limit.

But in the case of second-time buyers, only 10% can exceed this threshold.

There are also restrictions on the proportion of loans that can contravene specified loan / value ratios.

First time buyers also need a deposit of at least 10%, and 20% required for other buyers.

Again, some exemptions are allowed.

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