Most vulnerable likely to face long-term mortgage arrears

The country’s most vulnerable households are significantly more likely to be in long-term arrears on their mortgage payments, a Central Bank report reveals.

The research throws light for the first time on the long-overlooked plight of the large numbers of households still facing high levels of mortgage distress eight years after the banking and property collapse.

“The 2014 numbers show that despite an improving economy the transition rates into arrears have remained close to those seen in a more distressed economy in previous years,” said the report’s authors, Robert Kelly and Fergal McCann of the Central Bank.