IRISH NATIONWIDE Building Society (INBS) has announced its intention to increase its standard variable mortgage rate by 0.65 per cent from May 1st.
The move will leave an INBS mortgage-holder with an outstanding debt of €300,000 down by more than €1,200 a year.
The variable rate will climb to 4.4 per cent and comes just weeks after the lender confirmed plans to exit the fixed-rate mortgage market.
INBS is the sixth lender in the State to announce a substantial rate increase in recent weeks and it said yesterday that the increase was directly attributable to the rising cost of funds.
The last time Irish Nationwide raised its home loan standard variable mortgage rate was in September 2010.
AIB announced a range of increases to its fixed-rate packages two weeks ago.
Its one-year fixed-rate mortgages for owner-occupiers went from 3.59 per cent to 4.15 per cent. Owner-occupiers who sign for a three-year fixed-rate mortgage will pay 4.88 per cent instead of 3.89 per cent while five-year fixed mortgage rates will cost owner-occupiers 5.35 per cent, compared with 4.39 per cent.
Permanent TSB announced a one-point increase to its standard variable rate at the beginning of February and temporarily suspended its fixed rates for new customers.
Days later EBS left the fixed-rate market and announced a 0.6 per cent variable rate hike, from 3.83 per cent to 4.43 per cent and Ulster Bank increased its variable rate from 3.85 per cent to 4.35 per cent, from March 1st.
KBC Homeloans increased its two-year fixed-term rate from 3.7 per cent to 4 per cent.
The bank’s three-year fixed rate climbed to 4.45 per cent from 3.9 per cent and its five-year fixed-rate mortgage increased by 0.7 per cent, from 4.5 per cent to 5.2 per cent. People on tracker mortgages who have so far been spared the pain of any rate increases, are likely to start suffering from as early as next week with the European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet signalling ECB rate rises are on the cards.
As mortgage rates have risen, so too have the number in arrears. This has climbed to nearly 6 per cent of the market, while the rate of repossessions has also accelerated, Central Bank data indicates.
The latest figures show a dramatic worsening over the last 12 months. Account-holders behind on payments by more than 90 days now owe €8.6 billion. Some €6.2 billion of that is owed on accounts more than 180 days in arrears.
