This paper analyses consumption in Ireland using household survey data. Studying surveys from 1994-95, 1999-2000 and 2004-05, we find that the median non-mortgage household tended to consume more than disposable income in the 1990s but apparently started spending in line with income by 2004-05....

Mortgage arrears arise if a household faces affordability problems and/or is in negative equity. Because widespread arrears pose a risk to the stability of banks and limit households' future access to credit, a crucial question is how monetary or macroprudential policies influence their...

We estimate a structural model of the Irish housing and mortgage markets and isolate the role of demand and supply factors in each market. We focus on the pre-2004 period during which house prices and mortgage credit exhibited a stable relationship. We find that mortgage demand is determined by...