There has been another fall in the number of households in mortgage arrears.

New figures from the Central Bank show 5,673 homes came out of arrears in the first three months of a year - a drop of 5.1%.

Of 757,175 private residential mortgage accounts for principal dwellings at the end of March, 104,693 accounts are said to have been in arrears.

But the details also show an increase in the number of households which are over two years behind in arrears, and over a third of all troubled mortgages are now two years behind on their repayments.

The Central Bank says the pace of increase in number of accounts in arrears over 270 days "has reduced significantly in recent quarters", with an increase of 155 homes in the first quarter of this year.

The number of accounts in arrears over 90 days fell by 5.5% in the same period.

Banks repossessed 156 homes on foot of a court order, while another 195 homes were voluntarily handed over by borrowers.