Mortgage arrear figures climb again with more than 186,000 accounts behind

Figures for the end of last year show that some 186,000 mortgage accounts are now in some form of arrears, or have had to have repayments lowered with the permission of the bank.

The numbers who are three months or more in arrears on their residential mortgage have jumped to close to 95,000, the Central Bank said.

This represents 12pc of all residential mortgages.

Overall, some 144,000 home mortgages are in some form of arrears.

Another 42,000 mortgage accounts have had to have repayments restructured, because the homeowners are unable to meet the originally agreed repayments. These people are not in arrears.

However, the Irish Banking Federation was quick to issue a statement pointing out that there has been a decline in the numbers getting into early-stage arrears.