Rising mortgage arrears just tip of the iceberg

MORTGAGE arrears have become one of the biggest issues facing the country, a director at the Central Bank said recently. He’s right and the figures are fairly startling.

Mortgage accounts in arrears over 90 days have almost doubled since September 2009, rising from over 26,000 to almost 50,000 in March. In addition, around 36,000 loans have been restructured, which means these people are struggling to make payments and need help.

However, these figures only begin to paint the picture of how bad things are for those who took out mortgages in the boom. Arrears are expected to keep increasing against a backdrop of rising interest rates and rising consumer prices.