The level of residential mortgages in arrears of 90 days or longer more than doubled in the year to October 2009 across €40.4 billion of Irish loans sold on to investors in bonds, according to credit rating agency Moody’s.

A report by the agency on the Irish prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market found that arrears of 90 days or longer jumped to 2.9 per cent in October from 1.34 per cent a year earlier across the loans portfolio. Redemptions on the mortgages totalled 6.4 per cent in October – half the level of a year earlier – and a decline from an all-time high of 25.3 per cent five years ago.

There is a risk the current delayed foreclosure process where lenders are supporting borrowers in default would lead to higher losses in Irish RMBS transactions “in the mid-term”, Moody’s said, and that the performance of mortgages “may not yet fully reflect the depth of the current recession”.