Home repossessions rocketed by more than 20 per cent during 2007 to reach an eight-year high, according to new figures.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said a total of 27,100 homes were repossessed during the year after people fell behind on their repayments.

Government figures also released today by the Ministry of Justice showed that more than 35,000 mortgage possession orders were made through the courts in the final three months of last year.

Despite the CML figures being better than expected, housing experts predicted that worse was to come with the possibility of a return to the problems of the 90s now a distinct possibility.

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The CML figure equates to 0.23 per cent of all mortages and is still well short of the 75,540 repossessions reached during the housing price crash in 1991.

Their figures show that the predicted increase in repossessions during the course of 2007 failed to materialise.

Fewer than one in 400 mortgages led to a home being repossessed, less than half the level seen during the first half of the 1990s, according to CML.

Just 13,500 homes were taken over by lenders during the final six months of the year, compared with 13,600 during the first half.

The CML said that although repossessions had risen from their recent low of fewer than 10,000 a year in 2003 and 2004, they continued to represent a tiny fraction of all home loans.

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