Figures released by the Central Bank have revealed that 9.2% of private residential mortgages have been in arrears for 90 days or more, an increase of 1.1% from the previous quarter.
The Central Bank says that during the last three months of 2011 133 properties were taken into possession, of which 50 were repossessed.
At the end of December 2011 there were 768,917 private residential mortgage accounts held in the Republic of Ireland, with a value of €113.5 billion.
The average mortgage holder in Ireland is €1,453 behind in their repayments.
By the end of December, 70,911 mortgage holders were more than 90 days behind on their repayments – with over €1.11 billion in loan repayments due on them, an average of €15,753 per affected household.
In 53,086 cases, the mortgages were more than six months in arrears – with just under 10% of those mortgages, with an outstanding balance of €10.7 billion, due to be repaid but not yet done so.
It is likely that the €1,453 figure is actually higher, as the stats do not include arrears accrued on mortgages which are less than 90 days in arrears.
The Central Bank reports that the stock of accounts continues to decline from the 794,609 that were held at the end of September 2009 when this data series commenced.
Of the current stock of accounts, 70,991, or 9.2%, are in arrears of more than 90 days. This compares with 62,970 (8.1% of total) that were in arrears of greater than 90 days at the end of September 2011.
The Central Bank says there was a stock of 74,379 accounts that were classed as recategorised at the end of December 2011, a 6.7% increase compared to the third quarter of 2011. The Central Bank says 36,797 of the recategosied accounts are not classed as in arrears. Therefore 107,708 accounts are either in arrears of over 90 days or have been restructured and are performing as at the end of December 2011.
