Press Release 22 December 2009
The Financial Regulator today (22 December 2009) published new data on mortgage arrears and repossessions. The data show that as at end September 2009 there were 791,634 private residential mortgage accounts to a value of €118.6 billion.
- Arrears Data
26,271 mortgage accounts, or 3.3%, were in arrears for more than 90 days of which 17,767, or 2.2%, were more than 180 days in arrears. By value €4.8 billion was owed in relation to all accounts more than 90 days in arrears and €3.2 billion was owed in respect of accounts more than 180 days in arrears.
As at the end of September 2009 there were 4,565 formal demands outstanding which had previously been issued by mortgage lenders. In these cases the level of arrears amounted to €57.8 million on outstanding mortgages totalling €957.5 million. This excludes 3,617 cases where court proceedings had been issued to enforce the debt/security on the mortgage. Here the level of arrears amounted to €84.2 million on outstanding mortgages of €699.5 million.
- Court Proceedings
During the quarter ended September 2009, mortgage lenders applied to Court to commence proceedings to enforce the debt/security in 491 cases. In these cases arrears totalling €10 million had built up on mortgage loans totalling €118.4 million.
During the quarter 218 enforcement proceedings were concluded. In 79 cases the Courts granted repossession orders which included 6 properties that were voluntarily surrendered and 2 that were abandoned. In the remaining 139 cases, 28 properties were voluntarily surrendered, 10 were concluded by abandonment while 101 were settled either by renegotiating the mortgage or on other terms.
- Repossessions
At the beginning of the quarter mortgage lenders held a stock of 243 repossessed residential properties. A further 31 were repossessed during the quarter on foot of a Court Order and 79 were repossessed following voluntary surrender or abandonment while 22 properties were disposed of during the quarter. This left mortgage lenders with 331 repossessed residential properties at the end of September 2009.
The Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions Statistics are available 
here.