The Council Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported this week that less British families were losing their homes to repossession. Due to the lower numbers the group decided to revise their forecast for mortgages in arrears and repossession through the end of the year.

In second quarter there were 9,400 homes repossessed. That was down 400 homes from first quarter. The more drastic comparison was that this year’s second quarter was 2,400 lower than second quarter of last year.

The number of home owners that were in arrears for second quarter was 178,200. This was 17 percent lower than those in arrears the same period last year.

The new CML revised forecast is now projected that there will be 175,000 homeowners in arrears by 2.5 per cent of total mortgage to end of year. The previous forecast was for 205,000.

CML did warn that should the economy face a double dip recession, or inflation cause an increase in interest rates the forecast could climb.

Meanwhile, many charity groups have warned the government that there are millions of homeowners that would not be able to afford their homes if the interest rate increased. There are many homeowners that are not even aware of the impact an interest rate rise would have on their mortgage payments. There are many economic factors that could change the number of repossessions to either continue on the path of lowering or could send it reeling once more.

"While we don’t want to cry wolf, it seems obvious that the ongoing prognosis for arrears and possessions is far from a healthy all-clear," said director general at CML, Michael Coogan.

He added: "We hope that the coalition government will not risk undermining the chances of extending the welcome trends this year by removing support mechanisms that work."