(Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire)The decision by ICS Mortgages to increase its fixed interest rate mortgage offers came as something of a surprise. Market interest rates have edged higher, but the general expectation is that mortgage interest rates are going to hold broadly steady, at least for the early part of this year. There had been earlier expectations of a further decline and so money market rates have tightened in recent weeks. In contrast, the bigger lenders – the main banking groups – have healthy deposits, many earning relatively low interest rates for savers. This illustrates the difficulty of attracting competition into the Irish mortgage market to compete against the established groups.

Source: The Irish Times January 07, 2026 02:13 UTC