Irish banks have sold off 45,000 owner-occupier mortgages and buy-to-let loans to organisations such as private equity companies.
The Central Bank figures show a modest improvement in the overall mortgage arrears situation as the number of home loans behind on repayments fell by 2,500 in the third quarter of the year.
The number of mortgages in arrears over 90 days at the end of September was 56,000, or 8% of the total number of home loans.
This marked a quarter-on-quarter decline of 2.1% and represented the twelfth consecutive decline in arrears.
However, the statistics show that the problem of long-term arrears, where borrowers are more than two years behind on repayments, remains persistent.
There were 34,500 mortgages in long-terms arrears in the third quarter of 2016, down 400 from the second quarter of the year.
The value of the owner-occupier mortgages behind on repayments is €4.3 billion.
Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossession Statistics: Q3 2016 https://t.co/6YrPAQdODw pic.twitter.com/lsJo6FTlNj
— centralbank.ie (@centralbank_ie) December 12, 2016
The Central Bank also said the number of home mortgages that were classified as restructured at the end of September stood at 121,140.
Of these restructured accounts, 88% were deemed to be meeting the terms of their current restructure arrangement, down slightly from previous quarter.
The largest increases in restructures were again recorded in the categories of arrears capitalisation and permanent split mortgages.
Meanwhile, a total of 420 distressed borrowers lost their homes in the three months to the end of September, according to today's Central Bank figures.
Some 280 of the properties were voluntarily surrendered or abandoned, but 140 were repossessed on foot of a court order.
