The number of repossessed homes being sold at auction has soared to levels last seen during the 1990s house price crash, say Europe’s biggest residential property auction house.

Allsop said nearly 40pc of all the homes it was currently putting under the hammer were properties that were being sold by banks and building societies that had repossessed them.

The group said its February catalogue had 410 lots, around 38pc of which were being sold by lenders, double the proportion for the same time last year. Between 40pc to 50pc of the properties up for auction at its last three sales were repossessed homes.

Gary Murphy, a partner at Allsop and an auctioneer, said: “The rise in repossessions is down to the fact that borrowers are having difficulties repaying their loans and a large proportion of these are buy-to-let investors who failed to appreciate the pitfalls of property investment.”

Posted: 01|29|08 at 9:54 am. Filed under: Auction News.