Latest arrears and repossession data issued by Central Bank

Latest Arrears and Repossessions Figures show 5.1% of mortgage accounts in arrears for more than 90 days

Press Release 17 November 2010

The Central Bank of Ireland today published the latest data on mortgage arrears and repossessions for the period ended September 2010. The figures show that at end September 2010 there were almost 789,000 private residential mortgage accounts held in Ireland to a value of €117.4 billion. Of these 40,472 were in arrears for more than 90 days. Furthermore, the data shows that overall mortgage debt outstanding for private residential mortgages decreased by €316 million since the second quarter of 2010.

1. Arrears Data

As at end September 2010, 40,472 mortgage accounts, or 5.1%, were in arrears for more than 90 days of which 28,049, or 3.6% of the total mortgage accounts, were more than 180 days in arrears. In value terms, €7.8 billion was owed in relation to all accounts more than 90 days in arrears, of which €5.5 billion was owed for accounts more than 180 days in arrears. Mortgage accounts in arrears for more than 90 days increased by 11.1% since the end of June 2010.
There was an increase of 2.1% in the number of formal demands outstanding which have been issued by mortgage lenders bringing the total number outstanding to 5,576. In these cases the level of arrears amounts to €92.8 million on outstanding mortgages totalling just over €1.2 billion. There was also an increase in the level of outstanding arrears cases where court proceedings had been issued to enforce the debt/security on the mortgage. At the end of September 2010 there were 3,054 such cases which is an increase of 1% since the end of June 2010. In these cases the level of arrears amounted to €101.8 million on outstanding mortgages totalling €694 million.

1. Court Proceedings

During the quarter ended September 2010 mortgage lenders applied to Court to commence proceedings to enforce the debt/security in 210 cases. This is an increase of 23.5% on the number of cases reported in the quarter ended June 2010. These 210 cases possess arrears totalling €7.8 million built up on mortgage loans that equate to €76.9 million.
During the quarter 156 enforcement proceedings were concluded. This was a decrease of 27.4% on the number of cases that concluded in the quarter to June 2010. In 98 cases the Courts granted repossession orders which included 3 properties that were voluntarily surrendered and 17 that were abandoned. In the remaining 58 cases where enforcement proceedings were concluded, 39 were settled either by renegotiating the term and/or other conditions of the mortgage. The remainder of these cases were concluded by voluntary surrender or on other terms.

1. Repossessions

At the beginning of the quarter mortgage lenders held a stock of 495 repossessed residential properties. A further 81 were repossessed during the quarter of which 22 were repossessed on foot of Court Orders and 59 were repossessed following voluntary surrender or abandonment.
A total of 54 properties were disposed of during the quarter. This left mortgage lenders with 522 repossessed residential properties at the end of September 2010.
Arrears Data and Prudential Capital Assessment Review
In March 2010, the Central Bank published its Prudential Capital Assessment Review conclusions for the Irish banks, which set base and stress capital requirements. These capital requirements involved an assessment of mortgage portfolio loss rates under a base and stress scenario. Loss rates are not the same as arrears rates and relate to the loss following defaults, based on an assessment of recovery values for properties, the proportion of borrowers that resume payment and other factors. The arrears rates for household mortgages published today imply a portfolio loss rate below the industry average base loss rate used in the PCAR (and well below the stress PCAR portfolio loss rate).

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