The Council of Mortgage Lenders suggests that its prediction for 75,000 repossessions this year was pessimistic.
There were 12,800 homes repossessed in the first three months of the year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
This figure was up on 10,400 in the fourth quarter of last year and 8,500 in the first quarter of 2008. However, the CML believes its earlier prediction of 75,000 repossessions this year is too pessimistic in the light of the new data.
"Despite technical issues this quarter affecting our ability to compare arrears and possession rates with earlier periods, it is clear that mortgage arrears continued to increase," said CML director general Michael Coogan. "So did repossessions, but not as much as our 75,000 forecast figure for the year would suggest. So our forecast now looks pessimistic and we expect to revise it over the next month or so."
However, Liberal Democrat housing spokeswoman Sarah Teather claimed that the figures make "grim reading". She said that government measures had been "attempts to grab headlines" and had not stopped the number of homes being repossessed from rising.
"Ministers should be ashamed that only one family has been helped by their mortgage rescue scheme, months after it was announced to great fanfare," she added. "Mortgage law needs urgent reform to give courts the power to ensure that repossessions are only ever a last resort."
