Fresh evidence that the US property recession is worsening emerged today after new data revealed that a record 8,000 US households a day are in foreclosure and the total number of homeowners falling into arrears with their mortgage payments rose by 65 per cent.

New home foreclosure filings in April hit 243,353, up 4 per cent on March, according to the real estate data published by RealtyTrac.

Nevada emerged as the worst hit across the US, with one in every 146 households across the state filing for foreclosure last month.

Homeowners file for foreclosure when they have fallen severely behind with their mortgage payments and have received either default notices, or been given details of a date when their home is to be auctioned, or have seen their house formally repossessed by their mortgage lender.

Averaged over the whole of the US, one household in every 519 had filed foreclosure documents and is on the verge of losing their home.

James Saccacio, chief executive at RealtyTrac, said: "The total number of US properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we've seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005."

The new data adds weight to a prediction by Robert Shiller, co-founder of the S&P Case-Shiller US house price index and professor of economics at Yale University, that house price declines in America stand a good chance of doubling before any sign of recovery emerges.

He estimates that US real estate values have already fallen by around 15 per cent, and may decline by as much as 30 per cent - losses not seen since the Great Depression.

The housing data emerged as the latest US inflation figures underlined fears that America is already well into a recession, with prices stagnating as consumer confidence and demand dry up.

April inflation showed that stripping out fuel, the cost of living rose by a modest 1.2 per cent over the last quarter.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note to investors: "The core was held down by a 1.9 per cent drop in lodging costs (third straight drop as vacation spending slows), a 0.2 per cent fall in auto prices (expect more as auto sales tank) and a 0.1 per cent dip in recreation.

"But the big story here is core, still 2.3 per cent year on year but the 3-month annualised is a mere 1.2 per cent. Recessions do that."

To add to the gloom, Richard Syron, chief executive at Freddie Mac, the US mortgage funding giant, warned that conditions had remained "challenging" during the first quarter of the year.

Mr Syron also admitted to a widening loss in the first quarter of the year, deepening from $133 million for the first quarter last year to $151 million for the first three months of 2008. America's second biggest provider of funding for residential mortgages is already sitting on a fourth quarter loss at the end of last year of $2.5 billion.

Mr Syron said the group would seek to raise $5.5 billion in new capital to help expand its business and to act as a cash cushion during future periods of financial stress.

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