Analysis: The latest mortgage arrears figures should worry us a lot

Mortgage arrears may no longer be as closely attended as they once were, but the problem is clearly far from being resolved and the long-standing struggle for survival endures for many households, writes Paul Joyce.

Many familiar patterns remain: The overall number of accounts in arrears has again decreased, but the number that has been in arrears for over two years remains stubbornly high at over 34,500 accounts.

With only a very marginal decline in this category of people with arrears of over 720 days, it is by definition increasing as a proportion of the total number of people in arrears.