Mortgages on 23,779 family homes were in arrears of more than 90 days at the end of September, according to Central Bank data published on Wednesday, as the rate of arrears fell to a post-crash low.
Just 3.4 per cent of all principal home mortgage accounts were in arrears in the three months to the end of September, down from 3.5 per cent the previous quarter. That had been the lowest level since the outset of the Irish property crash in 2009. Arrears peaked at almost 13 per cent in 2013.
At the end of the month, almost three-quarters of all mortgages in arrears for more than 90 days were held by non-banks.
If mortgages with arrears of less than 90 days are included, some 37 per cent were held by banks. That is unchanged from the second quarter of the year and down 1 percentage point in annual terms, the Central Bank said.
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Overall, the number of mortgage accounts in arrears dropped by 14 per cent.
The number of accounts in long-term arrears – defined as being more than a year behind in payments – was 17,657, or 2.5 per cent of the total. This represents an 11 per cent decrease compared with September 2024, according to the data.
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The third quarter of 2025 marked the sixth consecutive period in which arrears declined, the Central Bank said.
At the end of September, there were 698,933 residential mortgages held against principal private homes, with a total outstanding balance of €107 billion. Around 36,106 of these were in arrears, the Central Bank said, a fall of 3.3 per cent from the second quarter of the year.
In the buy-to-let market, 6,301 mortgages – almost 13 per cent of the 49,212 investment mortgages outstanding – was in arrears. Of those, 5,131 were in arrears of more than 90 days with 4,469 more than a year behind in payments.
Arrears in the investment mortgage sector were up 2.5 per cent over the quarter but down 21 per cent year-on-year.
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The decline in mortgage arrears has been helped by the strength of the Irish economy in recent years and rising house prices.
In an analysis note on Wednesday, Davy Stockbrokers economist Kevin Timoney said the risks to the Irish economy are tilted to the upside, despite global uncertainty and the threat of external shocks.
“The Irish economy has been beset with challenges since the global financial crisis. Most modelling of shocks to the economy has provided stark estimates of the likely pathway ahead,” Mr Timoney said.
“However, the economy has proven consistently more resilient than expected. With new domestic policies for housing and infrastructure primed to take effect, we now believe that risks to the consensus are tilted to the upside.”
In its latest medium-term economic outlook, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) last week highlighted the economy’s “remarkable performance” over the past decade while warning of three potential shock scenarios that could derail it in the years ahead.
The think-tank warned that a sudden slowdown in demand for Irish exports linked to changes in United States trade policy or a global recession would have a “severe impact” on the economy here.
