Irish mortgage arrears fall to record low

The number of owner-occupier loans where borrowers were more than a year behind in repayments represented just over 2% of all home loans in the market

There were just over 698,000 private residential mortgage accounts for principal dwellings held in the Republic of Ireland at the end of last year, with a total outstanding balance of €109bn.

Irish long-term mortgage arrears fell 16% last year, new figures from the Central Bank of Ireland show. 

New data reveals the number of those in mortgage arrears continues to decline amid regulatory pressure for lenders to resolve difficult cases, falling interest rates, and rising house prices.

The number of owner-occupier loans where borrowers were more than a year behind in repayments declined by 3,087 accounts to 16,115, representing just over 2% of all home loans in the market. This marks the lowest level since the Central Bank started publishing the data in 2009, in the aftermath of the property crash.

The data also shows that the number of principal dwelling house accounts in arrears over 90 days was 21,833 at the end of last year, accounting for just over 3% cent of all loans. At the end of last year, 75% of all owner-occupier loans that were at least 90 days in arrears were owned by non-banks. 

There were just over 698,000 private residential mortgage accounts for principal dwellings held in the Republic of Ireland at the end of last year, with a total outstanding balance of €109bn.

Meanwhile, accounts in long-term mortgage arrears had an outstanding balance of €3.9bn, which accounted for 83% of balance on all accounts in arrears over 90 days. Non-bank entities accounted for 15% of the total number of mortgage accounts outstanding. 

A total stock of almost 54,500 home loans were categorised as restructured at the end of last year, representing 8% of all loans. Some 84% of the restructure loans were not in arrears, while 88% were meeting the terms of their current restructure arrangement.

Meanwhile, there were over 47,300 residential mortgage accounts for Irish buy-to-let (BTL) properties in the market, with an outstanding balance of €6.6 bn, Central Bank figures show. 

Of the total BTL stock, 10% were more than 90 days in arrears, marking a decrease of 1,180 accounts in annual terms. BTL accounts in arrears of over one year numbered 3,975, or 8% of all such mortgages. 

The outstanding balance on these accounts was €1.4bn at the end of last year, comprising 22% of the total outstanding balance on all BTL mortgage accounts.