In its regular report on the property market here, it says arrears in residential mortgages hit 18% at the end of last year. That’s up from 16.2% in the third quarter of 2013.

The arrears figure is higher than the official Central Bank measure of those struggling to repay their loans, though Fitch is looking at a smaller pool of loans than the bank.

But Fitch does believe the rate of increase in loans in arrears will peak in the current quarter of the year before declining.

It bases that claim on figures showing early stage arrears declining and banks beginning to work out long-term solutions for those in difficulty.