New figures from the Central Bank of Ireland report that mortgage lending rose by just €96m in November, the slowest growth in residential mortgage lending between October and November since 1986.

The annual rate of increase in residential mortgages slowed to 6.7% during November, down from 7.6% in October.

The fall in mortgage lending becomes more apparent when compared to mortgage figures between January to September 2008 when the Central Bank reported an average monthly increase of over €850m.