City News Desk

The bailout of the banks using  taxpayers money was meant to prevent home repossessions to rise, but a report published by banks has shown that 6,7000 homes have been repossessed in the last six months from banks like the Lloyds which is 43% owned by the taxpayer.

The figures released by the banks for the last six months has shown that at the top of the list was the Halifax with 3,000 properties repossessed, Northern Rock which is fully owned by the state saw 2,522 repossessions with the Royal Bank of Scotland, 70% owned state owned bank with 567 repossessions.

The actual number of homes being repossessed by the banks is falling in comparison to last year with Lloyds claiming that repossessions were down 7% on last year and Northern Rock claiming there were 1000 properties less repossessed.

The Council of Mortgage of Lenders has said that its forecast for repossessions for this year will be down from 75,000 to 65,000 which reflects the positive effect lower interests is having on home owners ability to pay their mortgages.

The figures of the "main" lenders masks the real crisis in the housing market of the "sub-prime" lenders which are not reflected in the repossession figures.

photo credit: enormo.co.uk