More than 900,000 homeowners have missed at least one mortgage repayment in the past six months, a 95 per cent increase on the same period last year, according to research by Moneyexpert.com, the comparison website.

Experts warn that the huge jump in missed repayments suggests that current estimates by the Council of Mortgage Lenders for 75,000 home repossessions over the next year could be too conservative.

Sean Gardner, director of MoneyExpert.com, said: "Missing a mortgage payment is about as serious as it gets and is a clear signal that your finances are at breaking point."

With the economy in recession, homeowners are expected to be put under huge financial strain over the next 12 months. Unemployment figures are soaring: the jobless total rose by 131,000 to 1.92 million between September and November last year, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Even though the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to 1 per cent on Thursday, mortgage costs remain high for many households.

Mr Gardner said: "The Bank of England has put interest rates at an historically low level, so there’s no reason why mortgages should remain prohibitively expensive. Unfortunately, many banks and building societies have not yet mustered up the courage to offer decent rates to anyone without a large stack of equity to stump up as a deposit.”

The Centre for Economics and Business Research has predicted that house prices could fall by 40 per cent from their peak in August 2007 if the Government does not resolve the freeze on new mortgage lending. It warned that house prices could remain at 2003 levels until 2013, leaving millions of homeowners in negative equity, with the value of their property being less than their mortgages.

Citigroup, the American bank, estimates that three million UK homeowners could be trapped in negative equity by the end of the year.

The Government has announced a series of initiatives to support homeowners struggling to meet their mortgage commitments. However, the fine print of proposals to allow homeowners to defer interest payments for up to two years is still being debated by lenders and the Government.