Increase in mortgage arrears

New figures show that the number of mortgage accounts in arrears for more than 90 days has risen by more than 12 per cent since the end of March.

According to data published by the Central Bank and Financial Regulator, there were over 789,000 private residential mortgage accounts worth almost €118 billion at the end of June.

Of these, 36,438 or 4.6 per cent of all accounts were in arrears for more than 90 days or which 24,797 were in arrears for over 180 days.

An estimated €6.9 billion was owed in relation to all accounts more than 90 days in arrears of which €4.8 billion was owed for accounts over 180 days in arrears.

The figures also show that overall mortgage debt outstanding for private residential mortgages decreased by over €339 million since the first quarter of 2010.

The number of formal demands outstanding which have been issued by mortgage lenders remained virtually unchanged at about 5,500. In these cases the level of arrears amounts to €84.48 million on outstanding mortgages totalling some €1.16 billion.

There was a further decrease in the level of outstanding arrears cases where court proceedings had been issued. At the end of June there were 3,023 cases live, down 1.75 per cent since March.

In the second quarter, mortgage lends applied to court to commence proceedings over arrears in 170 cases, up 5.59 per cent on the previous quarter.

During the three-month period under review, 215 enforcement proceedings were concluded. In 101 cases the Courts granted repossession orders which included 7 properties that were voluntarily surrendered and 24 that were abandoned.

In the remaining 114 where enforcement proceedings were concluded, 85 were settled either by renegotiating the term and/or other conditions of the mortgage. The remainder of these cases were concluded by voluntary surrender or on other terms.
According to the data there were 387 residential properties repossessed from July 1st 2009 to the end of June 2010.

At the beginning of the second quarter of 2010, mortgage lenders held a stock of 455 repossessed residential properties. A further 86 were repossessed during the quarter, of which 20 were done on foot of Court Orders while 66 were repossessed following voluntary surrender or abandonment.

A total of 45 properties were disposed of during the quarter under review. This left mortgage lenders with 496 repossessed residential properties at the end of June.