Over 900,000 UK property owners have missed paying at least one mortgage payment in the last six months, says Moneyexpert.com.

The number is equivalent to one in 12 of all mortgage payers and represents a 95% increase in the number of those in arrears compared to the same six month period in 2008.

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

"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, " added Mr Gardner.

Some estimates now suggest that up to three million UK property owners could find themselves in negative equity by the end of 2009.

The Bank of England is widely expected to cut base rates to 1% on Thursday and UK banks will again come under increasing government pressure to pass on the cut to borrowers.

Robin Bowman