Advisers shocked at rise in early-stage mortgage arrears

Official figures have shown a second successive quarterly increase in homeowners falling into early-stage arrears, with one in 10 households now behind in their mortgage payments.

The Central Bank figures showed accounts in arrears for up to 90 days rose to 23,322 at the end of March, even as all other categories of longer-term arrears fell.

Overall, the figures show a further steady fall in the number of mortgage accounts in arrears, to 76,422, representing about one in 10 of all home mortgages. Of those, more than 53,000 — or 7% of all family home mortgages — owe more than three months repayments.