Home repossessions accelerate to 60 each week

The number of homes being repossessed is continuing to rise with orders being granted at a rate of more than 60 per week when the courts are sitting, Courts Service figures show.

Almost 1,000 repossession orders were granted in the courts in the first six months of this year, with the number granted in the Circuit Courts up almost 200 per cent on 2014.

A total of 900 repossession orders were granted in the State’s 26 Circuit Courts between January and June, compared with 313 in the same period in 2014. About 40 repossession orders were granted in the High Court in the first half of this year.

The number of Circuit Court repossession orders fell between the first quarter of this year, when 586 were granted, and the second quarter, when 314 were given. However, the courts sat for 10 weeks in the first quarter – between January 12th and March 27th – and just five weeks in the second quarter – between April 13th and May 21st.

The number of dwellings against which repossession orders were granted averaged 58 per week during the first quarter sittings. This rose to 62 per week in the second quarter.

Of the 900 Circuit Court orders granted, 616 were for primary residential homes and 284 were for buy-to-lets or others such as holiday homes.

The highest number was at Cork Circuit Court, where 123 repossession orders were granted – 91 for primary homes and 32 for buy-to-lets and others. In Dublin Circuit Court, 116 orders were granted – 77 for family homes and 39 for others.

Some 68 orders were granted in Wexford between January and June this year – 32 for primary homes and 36 for buy-to-lets and others, while 55 were granted in Laois, 46 in Louth and 45 in Tipperary. The fewest were granted in Sligo, where there were seven – all buy-to-let or others. The figures represent a continued upward trend over the past four years.

In the first six months of 2012, some 141 repossession orders were granted across the Circuit Courts. In the same period in 2013, 191 repossession orders were granted, increasing to 313 in 2014 and 900 this year.