Mortgage provider Avant Money has become the latest company to announce plans to cut interest rates for its Irish customers.
Avant - backed by Spanish bank Bankinter - entered the Irish market last year, with low fixed and variable mortgage rates.
However, it's now set to cut 15 of its rates in a bid to put fresh pressure on the bigger banks and providers.
They're also expanding availability beyond large urban areas to the rest of the country.
Avant Money’s head of mortgages Brian Lande spoke to Breakfast Business about their plans.
He said: “We’re cutting our fixed rates by up to 0.3%, particularly at the upper end of our range. So we’re making them much more attractive to first-time buyers.
“We’re cutting our variable rates by 0.55%, bringing our variable rates down to 2% and 2.2%.”
Avant's mortgages are offered via brokers - initially 19 brokers, but now up to almost 50.
Brian said the business is working to be competitive in a market where interest rates are well above the EU average.
He said: “It is possible to lend at a lower level - we’ve done that, and we’ve done it for 15 months now.
"But we were also conscious that there were customers, perhaps at the higher-end or the first-time buyers, typically looking for a 90% loan-to-value. Where we think we can do better… we've brought our rates down now.”
He said the business is hoping to end the year with a 4% market share in Ireland, but added they're "very confident" they can grow that to 10% market share - particularly as Ulster Bank and KBC exit the market.
Today's announcement puts fresh pressure on banks, amid growing competition within the mortgage sector.
Avant isn't the first non-bank lender to cut their rates, with ICS Mortgages and Finance Ireland also recently reducing their own rates.
