27,000 people’s homes were repossessed last year.

The number of people whose homes were repossessed last year has risen to 27,000, up 21% from 2006, reported the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) this week.

In 2007, the CML said 27,100 homes, the highest figure since 1999, were taken over by lenders after people fell behind with repayments.

Although the figure has risen from 22,400 in 2006, it is not as extreme as the CML had forecast, and they suggest that this number represents a tiny fraction of all mortgages – fewer than 1 in 400.

However, it is a sharp rise on the 8,500 of 2003, and furthermore, the numbers of mortgages in arrears have risen – by 8.6% compared with 2006.

Homeowners are set to be under even more pressure this year – with higher energy bills, food costs and more than a million people coming off fixed-rate mortgages.

General Director of the CML, Michael Coogan, said: “The number of repossessions is likely to be higher in 2008 as a result of wider issues in the economy and the mortgage funding markets.”

The UK’s housing slump is deepening after the Bank of England raised borrowing costs to a six-year high last year and consumers took on £1.4 trillion ($2.8 trillion) of debt. On 7 February, the Bank of England lowered the benchmark interest rate for a second time in three months to cushion the economy from slowing growth.