First-time buyers who are apprehensive about being able to afford repayments on a first property will be relieved to know that house repossessions only happen in a tiny fraction of cases .

This new data shows that just 0.23 per cent of all mortgages, the rate of repossessions rate is less than 50% that was recorded throughout the first half of the 1990s.

In 2006, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) predicted that in 2007 there would see around 30,000 repossessions, but as it turned out, the actual figure was just 27,100 which was 10% cent below those expectations.

Commenting on help available to homeowners, Michael Coogan, CML director general, said: "Lenders take their responsibilities to borrowers facing repayment difficulties very seriously, and many go to exceptional lengths to provide debt counseling, reschedule payments, extend loan terms, or in some circumstances even allow payment breaks."

Experience has also shown that lenders will very likely abandon repossession activity up right until the last minute, if an agreement can be reached, something that again is very reassuring to nervous borrowers.