Haven’s impaired loans rise by €6m

The level of residential loans impaired at EBS subsidiary, Haven Mortgages Ltd increased last year by €6m to €214.5m or 19.3% of the firm’s loan book, new figures show.

In accounts just filed by Haven Mortgages Ltd, they show that the firm’s total loanbook at the end of last year totalled €1.1bn.

EBS established Haven Mortgages Ltd in late 2007 with the purpose of growing EBS’s presence in the intermediary mortgage market.

The directors state that the market remains an active market for the purpose of providing mortgages.

The figures show that the firm recorded a profit of €14.8m in 2012 in spite of a further €16.6m write-down in loans.

The profit — which followed a loss of €20m in 2011 — arose mainly from a one-off gain of €25m.

The total interest income amounted to €14.7m compared to €18.8m in 2011 and the directors state that the decrease arises due to a reduction in the loans to customers balance and a reduction in average mortgage interest rates.

The directors state that Haven’s share of the intermediary market — that accounts for 18% of the overall mortgage market in 2012 — reduced from 4.7% to 0.6% in 2012.

The directors state that “this percentage reflects our reduced appetite for mortgage business during a very challenging year”.

The directors state “we expect the operating environment to remain difficult throughout 2013”.

The figures show that in spite of the increased level of loan impairments, the number of repossessions executed in 2012 totalled only one on an owner occupier property with no repossession carried out on buy-to-let properties.

The accounts show that Haven disposed of two repossessed properties in 2012 with a shortfall of €400,000 on the sale of the properties.