Changes in household consumption, which accounts for more than half of gross domestic demand expenditure, can have a significant impact on output and employment growth. This Economic Letter looks at the main drivers of household consumption, paying particular attention to the impact of the...

This paper analyses how developments in the housing market affect consumer spending. Using aggregate data, we show that housing wealth exerts a positive influence on consumption. Whilst informative, the aggregate results not allow us to identify housing wealth effects separately from credit...

This report discusses the role of the European Union’s full employment objective in the conduct of the ECB’s monetary policy. It first reviews a range of indicators of full employment, highlights the heterogeneity of labour market outcomes within different groups in the population and across...

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of Irish mortgage arrears using a new loan-level dataset which incorporates data from four Irish banks. We identify the main characteristics of accounts in arrears and examine the role of ability-to-pay and equity factors in the recent hike in...

At the end of 2012, almost one-fifth of owner-occupier mortgages were in arrears. A further five per cent not in arrears were classied as "restructured" loans. This Economic Letter looks at the impact of financial distress on household expenditure patterns by comparing the behaviour of...

This Economic Letter examines the link between house price dynamics in Ireland during the recent housing boom and the composition of buyers in the market. The analysis provides information on the relative riskiness of different buyer types, a topic that has increased in importance with the...

This paper examines the changing manner in which Irish financial institutions set their variable interest rates over the period 2003 - 2011. In particular, the onset of the financial crisis clearly results in a break in the pass-through relationship between market rates and variable rates at the...

At the peak of the Irish property boom in the rst decade of the 2000s, housing equity withdrawal, or \top-up" loans, accounted for one-third of residential mortgage loans issued. This collateral-based lending was typically issued at a signicant discount to other forms of personal lending, often...

This note presents estimates of the likely credit requirements of different sectors of the economy over a short-term horizon to 2013. The measure of credit “demand” used in the analysis is the stock of outstanding loans to the Irish private sector from the resident banking sector. The...

At the peak of the Irish property boom in the mid-2000s, housing equity withdrawal by existing homeowners accounted for around one-third of residential mortgage loans issued. This collateral-based lending was typically issued at a signicant discount to other forms of personal lending, often at...