MORTGAGE LENDING at the EBS was down about 52 per cent in the first half of the year compared with a 71 per cent decline across the industry, according to figures released by the building society.

The customer-owned lender said this meant that the building society’s share of the mortgage market had grown by five percentage points to 18.5 per cent.

The building society said that it was growing its share in a falling market despite declining demand for new mortgages in the market.

EBS said that the number of new mortgage applications had increased by 45 per cent in the second quarter of the year compared with the first quarter, signalling “an increase in confidence particularly from first-time buyers”.

Dara Deering, director of membership business at the building society, said: “While all of these applications won’t translate into loans, it does indicate that more people are looking at properties in the market and are establishing how much they can borrow.”

The building society said that its share of the first-time buyer mortgage market increased by 5 per cent in the first half of the year.

EBS declined to provide exact figures on the value of new mortgages provided in the six months.

Taking the total value of new mortgages in the first six months provided by the Irish Banking Federation last week, the society’s market share means EBS provided about €771 million in mortgages in the first six months, though this doesn’t include loans provided by its broker subsidiary, Haven.

EBS said 500 people had attended six educational seminars since March to help people who were considering drawing down a mortgage. The building society is scheduling a further nine similar events in the coming weeks.

The building society, which is expected to sell €800 million in property loans to Nama, is due to release its results for the first half of the year in the coming weeks.