Is there possibly an end in sight to the misery of repossession ?

This may be partly due to the fact that new rules were introduced in November 2008 which require lenders to exhaust all other mortgage repayment options prior to repossessing a defaulter's home . The reform may have delayed a specific number of actions.

In addition, the FSA stated that the number of new arrears cases are also declining, down 14 per cent in the second quarter, after a drop in the first quarter too. Thus whilst the total number of people falling into arrears is increasing, it is doing so more slowly.

The Building Societies Association states that it is reasonable to anticipate that greater than normal numbers of people are going to lose their homes as long as unemployment continues to rise. However, only 3 per cent of such arrears cases proceed to repossession. Still this recession is not producing the massive increase in repossessions that we witnessed in the early Nineties.

The main reason is the remarkably low cost of borrowing, which has rendered it easier to stay on top of a mortgage, even on a decreasing income. A less aggressive approach from mortgage lenders, especially the biggest mortgage providers, has enabled the situation.

The Government's laughable mortgage assistance scheme has most definitely not helped the situation; its beneficiaries can be counted on the fingers of one hand.