Mortgage approvals were 25 per cent higher in November 2012 than in the same month the previous year, according to Irish Banking Federation figures.

Surveyed lenders approved a total of 2,010 mortgages in November, to the value of €346 million, the IBF Mortgage Approvals report found.

This figure represents an 8.6 per cent increase on the previous month.

Within the approvals, some 94 per cent were for property purchase, which itself showed a year-on-year increase of 35.4 per cent.

The balance of approvals was for remortgages and top-up loans.

The IBF deems a mortgage approval a “firm offer” to a customer of a credit facility secured on a specific residential property, but the sum is not necessarily drawn down.

“The second month of data in this new series confirms continued growth in the number of new mortgages approved by mainstream lenders,” an IBF spokesman said.