ONE IN every 25 Irish residential mortgage holders is more than three months in arrears on repayments, according to figures published yesterday by the financial regulator. And almost 22,000 people are struggling with arrears of more than six months on their home loans.

However, the number of repossessions and court proceedings against homeowners fell in the first three months of the year.

The figures released by the regulator show that 32,321 mortgage accounts – around 4.1 per cent of all private residential mortgages in the State – were in arrears for more than 90 days. The arrears amount on these distressed mortgages amount to €464.5 million.

The numbers falling into arrears are rising at a time when the number of mortgages in issue has declined. The regulator said that there was a 13 per cent rise in the number of people running into trouble with their mortgages in the first three months of the year.

This is up on the 9 per cent jump in number in the final quarter of 2009. Overall, at the end of March, there were just over 791,000 private residential mortgage accounts open in the State.

The balance on mortgages outstanding stood at just over €118 billion – down by €285 million on the level at the end of 2009.

The figures came just 24 hours after the head of financial regulation at the Central Bank, Matthew Elderfield said mortgage arrears may be “the biggest legacy issue” from the financial crisis.

Opposition politicians said the figures highlighted the need for a response from Government to assist beleaguered homeowners.

The Irish Banking Federation yesterday welcomed the decline in repossessions and court proceedings over mortgage debt.

Separately, Moody’s yesterday downgraded notes issued by Irish RMBS Emerald Mortgages No.5 Ltd, backed by €2.5 billion in loans from EBS Building Society.

The agency had placed the notes on review last year as mortgage arrears rose.

It said yesterday that arrears of more than 360 days had doubled since last July.