From Sept 2006 Source: Irish Central Bank

The annual growth rate of Irish residential mortgages turned negative in November, for the first time since 1990, according to the Central Bank on Wednesday. Non-housing personal debt fell 21 per cent.

Irish private-sector credit (PSC) declined by €2.1 billion in November, with approximately half of this decline due to valuation effects (exchange rate movements, write-downs of loans and increased provisions for bad debts). This follows the €2.3 billion fall in PSC in October, which was largely due to valuation effects.

The annual rate of change in headline PSC declined further in November, to minus 5.2 per cent.  When valuation effects are accounted for, the underlying stock of PSC was approximately 1.7 per cent lower in November 2009 compared with November 2008.

Residential mortgage lending outstanding (including securitised mortgages) declined by €134 million in November - - the eighth consecutive month of decline. The year-on-year change in the level of outstanding mortgages declined for the first time in November 2009, being 0.1 per cent lower than in the same month in 2008.

Non-housing related household credit continued to decline during the month, and was 21 per cent lower on an annual basis in November.

Outstanding personal credit card debt fell marginally on a year-on-year basis, ending 0.6 per cent lower at the end of November 2009, compared with a year earlier.

The number of cards also fell during the month, the figures show. At the end of November there were 2.178 million personal cards in the market, a drop of 10,000 from October. The number of business credit cards remained constant, at 158,000. There were 43,000 fewer credit cards in the market at the end of November compared to a year earlier.

Overnight deposits increased by €306 million and deposits redeemable at notice of up to three months rose by €403 million.

From Sept 2006 Source: Irish Central Bank