Home repossessions soars by 71%

The number of people losing their homes after failing to meet their mortgage repayments has soared, figures showed today.

The number of homes that were repossessed during the three months to the end of June was up by 71 per cent compared with a year earlier.

The Financial Services Authority said 11,054 homes were repossessed in the three months to the end of June, compared with just 6,476 during the same three months of 2007.

The UK's financial watchdog said the number of repossessions had been growing "significantly" since the third quarter of last year, as increasing numbers of homeowners struggled to clear arrears they had built up.

The FSA also said there were 312,000 loan accounts in arrears at the end of the second quarter, a 16 per cent increase on the year.

The loans in arrears represented 2.58 per cent of the value of the overall residential loan book at the end of June, up from 2.10 per cent at the end of the second quarter of 2007, it said.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has estimated that 45,000 homes in the UK will be repossessed in 2008, an increase on the 27,100 last year.