Ireland

Banks repossess 340 homes in the south in three months

 The regulator also said 117,052 mortgages were in arrears at the end of last year
 The regulator also said 117,052 mortgages were in arrears at the end of last year  The regulator also said 117,052 mortgages were in arrears at the end of last year

BANKS are seizing more than three homes every day across the Republic, latest figures reveal.

Towards the end of last year 340 houses were repossessed by lenders after owners were forced by the courts to hand back the keys or they simply gave up the fight to keep a roof over their heads.

The Central Bank report showed the rate of repossessions had only narrowly reduced since the first three months of the year when it was four a day.

The regulator said that in the last three months of the year 162 principal family homes were taken by lenders using court orders and another 178 were given up voluntarily or abandoned.

The figures only reflect the number of times a bank has moved on someone's main home, with other records showing 199 houses or apartments classed as investments or buy-to-lets were taken over by lenders in the same period.

The regulator also said 117,052 mortgages were in arrears at the end of last year, including 88,292 properties which were people's main homes and 28,760 investments which had run into debt.

The banks are owed a total of €23.7 billion on those houses and apartments.