DATA FOR LOANS ISSUED by local authorities around Ireland shows that over a third of those loans are in arrears of more than a month.

RTÉ News reports that those arrears are over €25m in total.

Authorities with the highest level of arrears are Athlone Town Council, Monaghan County Council and Westmeath County Council, with over 60% of their loans in arrears.

The lowest rate was 10%, for Dublin’s Fingal County Council.

The authorities say they are a lender of land resort and, as a result, lend to some people who are of higher risk as borrowers. Councils have repossessed 79 homes in the past decade, and say they view repossessions as a last resort, preferring to work with borrowers to repay debt.

RTÉ also reports that the latest Permanent TSB/ESRI house price survey shows that average house prices fell by 1.3% between July and September.

This drop brings the fall in prices for the first nine months of 2010 to 7.6%, compared with an 11.7% drop for the same period of 2009. This brings average national prices for 2010 down to 2002 levels.