Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) has announced that its home loan standard variable mortgage rate will increase by 0.65 per cent to 4.4 per cent with effect from May 1st.

The move comes just a few weeks after INBS confirmed plans to exit the fixed-rate mortgage market.

INBS said today the variable increase is directly attributable to the rising cost of funds and will add an additional €34 to the cost of monthly repayments on a €100,000 mortgage over 20 years.

The last time Irish Nationwide raised its home loan standard variable mortgage rate was in September 2010.

INBS said all customers have been written to advising them of the rate increase and the Central Bank has also been notified.