the interest - rate spread in relation to the euro interest rate, and this is now as low as 20 basis points. when capital flows are reversed at some point in the future, we are of course also prepared to sell currency. those who are familiar with our operations will be in no doubt that danmarks nationalbank's currency defence will be extremely resolute in terms of both intervention and widening of the interestrate differential. danmarks nationalbank must continually monitor the krone's position in the market, and the decision - making structure must be designed for decisions on intervention or adjustment of interest rates to be taken at any time. danmarks nationalbank has the flexibility required to be able to act immediately. in recent years, many central banks have introduced fixed published dates for monetary - policy decisions, but the fixed - exchange - rate policy is not compatible with such fixed decision - making dates. a central aspect is that measures can be taken immediately to halt any inappropriate exchange - rate movement in order to prevent a crisis from emerging. the situation in the currency market can quickly change. when conducting a fixed - exchange - rate policy, it is therefore not advisable to prepare the market for forthcoming changes in the interest - rate differential, as practised by many central banks with other monetary - policy objectives. furthermore, we take the view that all parties in the market must have access to the same information, at the same time, from danmarks nationalbank. danmarks nationalbank's monetary - policy announcements are thus published with great precision via several channels simultaneously. no hints are given to certain groups capable of interpreting such messages. danmarks nationalbank therefore never comments on forthcoming changes, even though we frequently are asked questions in this respect. at the more technical level, we have ensured that the market participants receive information on the expected development in liquidity. on a monthly basis, danmarks nationalbank publishes estimates of expected day - to - day movements in the banks'overall liquidity, and at the same time releases information on the expected dates of danmarks nationalbank's sale or purchase of certificates of deposit. additional information on the development in liquidity is published on a daily basis, giving market participants a good opportunity to prepare their positions, and to subsequently analyse developments. on this basis, there is normally no great uncertainty concerning the scale of danmarks nationalbank's interventions in the foreign - exchange market. openness and transparency are generally given high priority in our modern society. for

housing. ‘ soft ’ costs, including taxation, development fees, return on capital and land values, appear to make up nearly half the cost of each new dwelling. 30 these ‘ soft ’ costs are more complicated to unravel. they are affected by everything from international capital markets to land values, to government policy. in addition, vat, local government policy, approvals processes, mezzanine finance rates, property price expectations, vacancy taxes and development levies all play a role. some of these appear to be unintended consequences, others represent carefully considered trade - offs between policy goals. in order to understand the impact of these policies better, the central bank of ireland is engaging with a range of stakeholders from industry to civic society among others on an ongoing basis. all who play a role in any area that affects the housing market : the construction industry, the building and materials sector, planners and regulators, banks and other financial intermediaries, estate agents and yes, the central bank – need to be asking themselves how their actions are interacting with the housing market. role of the central bank which brings us back to the role that the mortgage measures play in housing markets. as i mentioned earlier, many countries are facing similar housing market pressures. policy responses, such as the mortgage measures, are used to build resilience of borrowers and lenders and such policy measures are in place in all eu countries. every country in the eu has a loan - to - value limit, and 17, including ireland, have a loan - to - income or debt - service - to - income limit. 31 in ireland, the objectives of the mortgage measures are to increase the resilience of banks and borrowers to negative economic and financial shocks, and to dampen the pro - cyclicality of credit and house prices so a damaging credit house price cycle does not emerge. in addition, the measures are designed to be flexible enough to take into account specific circumstances. a system of allowances, for example, is in place that allows banks to lend above the mortgage measure limits. to illustrate, in 2018, one in eight loans to first time buyers were above the loan - to - income limit of 3. 5 times income. 32 further, almost 50 per cent of these allowances were for loans issued with a loan - to - income ratio above 4. looking at both first and subsequent borrowers last year, one fifth of the value of total mortgage lending was issued with an allowance to the