AIB made a loss of €73 million on the sale of 439 repossessed residential properties in the Republic last year, its annual report shows.

In addition, the bank had 714 repossessed properties on its book at the end of December 2015, with aggregate loans outstanding of €177 million.

AIB had closed the previous year with 630 repossessed properties on its books for sale, with balances outstanding of €164 million.

The latest data shows that 390 repossessed owner-occupied homes were sold by the bank last year.

These had balances outstanding at the time of repossession of €108 million with the bank netting €46 million from their sale.

It also incurred sale costs of €4 million – an average of €10,256 per property – leading to a total loss of €66 million.

On buy-to-lets, AIB disposed of 49 properties, netting €5 million in sales. This left it with a loss of €7 million on the balances outstanding.

In 2014, AIB sold 100 properties between owner-occupied and buy-to-let, crystallising a loss of €17 million.

The report states that AIB seeks to avoid repossessions by working with customers. Where agreement cannot be reached, the bank “proceeds to repossession of the property or the appointment of a receiver, using external agents to realise the maximum value as soon as is practicable”.

In a situation where the proceeds of a sale leave a shortfall in the amount owed, the “customer remains liable for the outstanding balance”.

Arrears

AIB said there continues to be an increase in the stock of repossessed homes due to the “continued focus on arrears management”.

In the UK, AIB had 65 repossessed properties on its books at the end of last year, down from 105 at the end of 2014.

It sold 119 residential properties in its possession last year, resulting in a loss on disposal of €15 million. This compared with 234 properties sold in 2014, resulting in a loss of €28 million.

Some 73 per cent of AIB’s UK mortgages are located in Northern Ireland. The UK residential mortgage book comprised 23,111 loans with a combined value of €2.4 billion at the end of last year.