First-time buyers are typically paying €88,000 more for a house now than they did five years ago, according to a new report by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), which also has interesting data on homebuyers age and earnings and how existing homeowners fare. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

Eoin also runs through the latest home commencement figures, which look starkly better than at this time last year. Work has started on around 60,000 properties this year, compared to 32,800 last year.

Spanish shipbuilding firm Navantia has become the latest rescuer of the fabled Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. In a deal securing 1,000 jobs and four H&W yards across the UK, the state-owned group is understood to have paid in the region of £70 million for the business that has seen previous owners go bust twice in the last five years, writes Seanín Graham.