The number of people in Britain who lost their homes soared to a 14-year high during 2009, figures showed today.
Around 46,000 people had their property repossessed during the year, the highest level since 1995 and 15% more than in 2008, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
But the figure was well down on the group's original forecast that 75,000 people would lose their homes during the year, although this was revised down twice to 48,000 when the predicted flood of repossessions failed to materialise.
There was a slowdown in the number of homes taken over by lenders during the fourth quarter of the year, with 10,200 properties repossessed, 13% less than during the previous three months.
A further 188,300 homeowners had fallen behind with their mortgage by the end of 2009 and were in arrears of at least 2.5% of their outstanding debt. This was 3% lower than during the third quarter and down on the CML's forecast of 195,000.
A combination of low interest rates, more flexible arrangements from lenders and the introduction of government schemes to help people who are struggling to keep up with their mortgage helped to keep repossession figures far lower than forecast.
But the CML warned that the economy was not 'out of the woods' yet, and said 2010 is likely to be a challenging year for many homeowners.
It has previously predicted that 53,000 homes will be repossessed this year, with a further 205,000 people ending 2010 in arrears.
But it said today that these forecasts may be a little pessimistic, due to unemployment not rising by as much as had been expected, and low interest rates.
