Ireland Weighs Debt Forgiveness in Europe’s Worst Housing Market
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Allied Irish Banks Plc, the nation’s biggest mortgage lender, may use money from its taxpayer bailout to rescue homeowners unable to pay their mortgages, opening the door to debt forgiveness in Europe’s worst real-estate market.
Irish home prices have fallen by 40 percent from their peak in 2007, according to figures from the country’s statistics office. More than one in 10 home loans are in arrears or have been restructured, typically by shifting borrowers to paying interest only on loans for a period, central bank data show.