Washington - More than twice as many people lost their homes in May compared to a year ago in the United States, according to a private report Friday that showed the country's housing crisis continues unabated.

Lenders repossessed 73,794 homes in May from owners who found themselves unable to keep up with mortgage payments, the real estate group RealtyTrac Inc said. That is up from 28,548 in May 2007.

The number of homeowners receiving foreclosure filings - which includes notices of mortgage defaults, auction sales and bank repossessions - also jumped 48 per cent on a year earlier.

Foreclosure filings were up 7 per cent from April, suggesting the mortgage crisis that has plagued the United States since last summer has yet to reach bottom.

All in all one in every 483 households in the United States faced foreclosure - the highest rate since RealtyTrac began keeping records in January 2005.

The record number of defaults largely stemmed from an unprecedented plunge in housing prices in the US since early 2007, which voided homeowners of the option of selling their homes if they could no longer cope with their mortgage payments.

The foreclosures have led to billions of dollars in writedowns of mortgage-related assets by financial institutions, fuelling a wider slowdown of the US economy. (dpa)