Mortgage owners are switching providers in an attempt to save money.
That's according to the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI), which has released its latest mortgage figures.
A total of 5,255 mortgages were approved in July - first-time buyers made up more than 45% of the total volume.
While mover-purchasers accounted for just over 20%.
The number of mortgages approved fell by 11.8% month-on-month, and rose by 4.4% compared with the same period last year.
Source: BPFIWhile non-purchase mortgage activity - which includes switching and top-ups - grew by 95.8% in volume terms year on year.
Brian Hayes is chief executive of the BPFI.
"Non-purchase mortgage activity, most of which is switching, has increased sharply since May.
"People are clearly shopping around - there's a huge amount of activity in the switching market.
"I think it's also clear if you look at the number of people who are fixing their mortgage for one, three or indeed five year plus.
"The level of new fixing that's going on within the mortgage market, in terms of the duration of time that you fix your mortgage product to, has virtually doubled".
