A ‘NAMA for the people’ has been proposed by housing agency Threshold as part of their pre-budget submissions.

Threshold has appealed to the government to support home owners by buying up houses and mortgages in arrears. Amid rising numbers of home repossessions, Threshold has implored the government not to go ahead with what it calls short-term measures, like payment moratoriums.

The state would buy ‘bad’ mortgages in Threshold’s plan, taking a 50 per cent stake in a home while allowing the original owner to keep the other half and remain in the home.

Threshold chairwoman Aileen Hayden says that the government must be “more hands-on” and consider more long term measures that will not just stave off the threat of home repossession “for a year or two”.

“The state would take part of it [the mortgage] but not the entire risk and then if the market improves, the Government would gain from the uplift. They should take the NAMA approach for the people. Lenders want to realise some assets and know they can’t get the full amount now.”

Ratings agency Fitch said last week that it expects further drops in residential and commercial property prices but that few houses have been repossessed so far despite rising arrears levels.