More than 123,000 mortgages are now behind in repayments, the Irish Times has reported.

And Central Bank figures show that the number of borrowers missing mortgage repayments for 90 days or more increased in the three months to the end of June.

The quarterly figures showed that a huge 10.9% of mortgages is now in arrears of 90 days or more.

And for the first time, the bank published figures on the number of mortgages in arrears of less than 90 days.

They show that the number of mortgage borrowers falling into arrears actually slowed during the second quarter of 2012.

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Arrears of 90 days or less fell to 45,165 mortgages at the end of June, down from 46,284 mortgages at the end of March.

Taking all the figures together, just over 22% of mortgages were in some kind of difficulty at the end of this year’s second quarter.

In numerical terms, this accounts for €30.5bn of loans.

he Irish Banking Federation said the high rate of arrears in the latest figures reflect "the difficult economic circumstances in which an increasing number of customers find themselves" but it noted that there has been a slowdown in the rate at which new customers are going into arrears over a number of successive quarters.

"This easing in the pace at which new arrears cases are arising is welcome and we will look to future quarters for confirmation of the sustainability of this trend over time," said the banking lobby group.

(NE)