A total of 13,161 homes were repossessed during the third quarter of 2008 - 92 per cent more than during the same period of 2007.

The number of homeowners who were behind with their mortgage repayments also jumped to 340,000, a rise of 24 per cent during the year and 10 per cent higher than in the previous quarter.

The Financial Services Authority said the number of people who have run up arrears of more than 1.5 per cent of their outstanding mortgage debt, roughly equivalent to being at least three months behind with repayments, has been slowly rising during the previous five quarters, increasing by around 4 per cent each quarter.

But it said the 10 per cent jump seen in the three months to the end of September was “more significant”.

A further 30,000 people got into arrears during the third quarter, and 2.92 per cent of all mortgage holders are now behind with their repayments.

Among those who are in arrears, people are managing to pay an average of 42 per cent of their normal mortgage payment each month.

But despite the steep jump in repossession levels, the number of homes that were sold by lenders rose only slightly to 7,687, compared with 7,000 in the second quarter.

As a result, the number of repossessed homes that remained unsold jumped dramatically during the third quarter to 27,123 - 27 per cent more than during the previous three months and 111 per cent up on the same period of 2007.

uk.news.yahoo.com