There has been an increase in the number of people in arrears with their mortgages, the national credit registration agency BKR said on Friday.

There are now 112,800 people who have built up arrears of more than 120 days, a rise of 1,200 on a year ago, the BKR said.

Despite the rise, the BKR said the figures are encouraging because this is fewer new debtors than a year ago. In the first quarter of 2014, almost 5,800 people were added to the register.

The BKR lists credit agreements with banks, mortgage providers and other official credit agencies.