Negative equity home loan plan

The Central Bank is set to make access to negative-equity mortgages easier for homeowners.

At a speech given to the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Ireland yesterday, Matthew Elderfield, the deputy governor of the Central Bank, said: “The mortgage arrears problem is one of the biggest remaining challenges for Ireland from the financial crisis.”

Negative-equity mortgage will allow mortgage holders to carry over negative equity from a previous property and add it onto a loan for a new home.