Rise in customers falling into mortgage arrears

Bank of Ireland has reported a slowing in the rate of mortgage arrears increases among its customer base, but said more people are still falling behind in their home loan repayments.

The bank said yesterday — as part of its first-half performance roundup — that 8.33% of its total residential mortgage book was in arrears for 90 days or more, as of the end of June; as opposed to 6.57% as of the end of December.

Nearly 14% of the bank’s buy-to-let mortgage book is currently in arrears, next to just 7% of its owner-occupier book. That owner-occupier figure is up from 5.6% at the end of December, but is still well below the 10.2% industry average.