The number of UK house repossessions jumped by 48 per cent in the first half of the year to hit a 12-year high.

A total of 18,900 homes were taken back by lenders after their owners failed to keep up with mortgage repayments - the equivalent of 0.16 per cent all of mortgages.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said it predicted that 45,000 homes will be repossessed by the end of the year as cash-strapped borrowers struggle to male their monthly payments.

The figures come just days after the Financial Services Authority warned that specialist mortgage firms were "too ready" to take court action against borrowers.

The data compares with 120,800 homes repossessed at the end of June 2007 and 129,600 at the end of December.

The CML stressed the figure was still low in the context of the entire mortgage market and less than half that experienced amid the housing market crash of the early 1990s.

Housing charity Shelter said the figures were "shocking", adding that hard-pressed homeowners are also now only given state help after nine months, too late to prevent many from losing their homes, it claimed.

Chief executive Adam Sampson said: "Behind these figures are thousands of families facing sleepless nights worrying about how to make their next mortgage payment, and many thousands more will be waking up to the frightening reality of repossession.

"Government urgently needs to step in to prevent thousands more families from losing their homes and provide the significant financial support troubled homeowners need to keep a roof over their head."

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