Loan arrears continue to rise

According to the Standard & Poor’s Performance Index (SPIN), 1.14 per cent of prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) were in arrears during April – up from 1.13 per cent in March.

However, S&P said that while home loan arrears have continued to increase over the last six months, the April result is below the 1.25 per cent average for prime loans in the last 10 years.

Meanwhile, the proportion of low-doc loans in arrears rose by 35 basis points to 4.76 per cent in April and represented approximately 1.3 per cent of the total loans outstanding that underlie prime RMBS transactions – significantly lower than the peak of 13.2 per cent in January 2008.

The SPIN for non-conforming loans in arrears rose by 17 basis points to 4.25 per cent, but remains well below the peak of 17.0 per cent in 2009.

[Related: Mortgage arrears to grow 'modestly', says S&P]