Skip to main content

Over 60,000 Homeowners Behind On Repayments...

More than 60,000 homeowners fall 90 days behind on repayments...

THE number of homeowners who are three months or more behind on their mortgage repayments has jumped to 60,000.

Ratings agency Moody's released statistics yesterday showing 7.62pc of the home loans that have been sold off to investors are now 90 days or more in arrears.

If this figure is applied across the entire 782,427 mortgages in the market, it means just short of 60,000 homeowners are now three or more months behind on their repayments.

Figures from the Central Bank last month put the number of homeowners in arrears in the three months to March at just shy of 50,000, or 6.3pc of all mortgages.

Now Moody's has produced figures for April showing the percentage in arrears has gone up from 6.65pc in February.

This means an additional 8,000 mortgage holders fell behind on their payments between February and April.

However, the Central Bank pointed out that the number of repossessions remained low at just 140 in the first three months of this year, while the majority of people were managing to repay their mortgages.

Moody's said the numbers in arrears for a year or more had also jumped.

There are 18,621 homeowners who are a year or more behind on their repayments. People who are a year or more behind on their repayments are at risk of losing their homes.

Lenders

The Central Bank has told lenders to wait a year before taking legal action to repossess a house when a homeowner falls into arrears and fails to engage with the lender.

A research note from Moody's said it regarded mortgage accounts that were 360 days in arrears as a proxy for defaults.

And it said the outlook for residential mortgages was negative. This was due to rising unemployment, which was pushing borrowers into arrears.

"Irish unemployment rates will increase to 14.4pc in 2011 from 13.5pc in 2010," Moody's said.

"Falling house prices will increase the size of losses on defaulted mortgages. House prices have already fallen by 40pc between September 2007 and March 2011."

However, the agency took heart from the fact that an auction of distressed residential properties in April saw prices that were 60pc below the peak of the housing market.

"Although the sale underlines the severity of the housing market correction, we also see this as an indication of genuine demand from buyers for the first time in over four years and a potential floor in house prices," Moody's said.

Lenders were told last week by the Central Bank to have new rules in place for dealing with people in arrears by the end of this month.

Report by Charlie Weston - Irish Independent

Popular posts from this blog

Ireland's Celtic Tiger Excesses...

'Bang twins' may never get to run a business again... POST-boom Ireland is awash with cautionary tales of Celtic Tiger excesses, as a rattle around the carcasses of fallen property developers and entrepreneurs will show. Few can compete with the so-called Bang twins for youth, glamour and tasteful extravagance. Simon and Christian Stokes, the 35-year-old identical twins behind Bang Cafe and exclusive private members club, Residence, saw their entire business go bust with debts of €9m, €3m of which is owed to the tax man. The debt may be in the ha'penny place compared with the eye-watering billions owed by some of their former customers. But their fall has been arguably steeper and more damning than some of the country's richest tycoons. Last week, further humiliation was heaped on them with revelations that even as their businesses were going under, the twins spent €146,000 of company money in 18 months on designer shopping sprees, five star holidays and sumptu

I fear a very different kind of property crash

While 80% of people over 40 own their own home just a third of adults under 40 do. This is disastrous for social solidarity and cohesion Changing this system of policymaking requires a government to act in a way that may be uncomfortable for some. Governments have a horizon of no more than five years, and the housing issue requires long-term planning. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was intended to tackle some of these problems. According to its website its remit is to “drive the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland by enhancing governance, building capacity and delivering effectively”. So how is the challenge of delivering homes for people in 2024 and beyond going to be met? The extent of the problem is visible in the move by companies, including Ryanair, to buy properties to house staff. Ryanair has, justifiably, defended its right to do so. IPAV has long articulated its views on how to improve supply an

Property Tycoon's Dolce Vita Ends...

Tycoon's dolce vita ends as art seized... THE Dublin city sheriff has seized an art collection and other valuables from the Ailesbury Road home of fallen property developer Bernard McNamara. The collection will be sold to help pay his debts. The sheriff, Brendan Walsh, is believed to have moved against the property developer within the past fortnight, calling to his salubrious Dublin 4 home acting on a court order to seize anything of value from his home to reimburse his creditors. The sheriff is believed to have taken paintings from the family home along with a small number of other items. The development marks a new low for Mr McNamara, once one of Ireland's richest men but who now owes €1.5bn . The property developer and former county councillor from Clare turned the building firm founded by his father Michael into one of the biggest in Ireland. He is the highest-profile former tycoon to date to be targeted by bailiffs, signalling just how far some of Ireland's billionai