Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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124. To ask the Minister for Finance the most up-to-date estimate available to his Department of the number of households in negative equity; his views on the implications of this for the wider economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49292/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Negative equity occurs when the price of a property falls below the value of the outstanding mortgage secured on that property.

I have been informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that they do not publish any data on the number of households in negative equity.  Neither do officials in my own Department collect data in this respect.

However, the Deputy may wish to note that there has been some independent assessment of the issue conducted recently by the Economic and Social Research Institute published a paper in August of this year, Updated Estimates on the Extent of Negative Equity in the Irish Housing Market, which can be accessed at the following link: .

This paper estimates the extent of negative equity based on certain assumptions regarding the volume of mortgages, house prices, mortgage term, interest rate, buyer type, Loan-to-Value ratio and level of arrears.  The paper estimates that the total number of mortgage loans in negative equity reached a peak of over 314,000 by the end of 2012 and also considers, in the view of the authors, some of implications for the wider economy.