The crisis in the American housing market deepened today when it emerged that homes are being repossessed at an alarming pace.

Foreclosure filings jumped almost a third in November compared with the same month a year ago, official figures show.

Analysts say a storm is brewing, and that as job losses pile up, many more people will find it impossible to keep up mortgages.

Estate agency RealtyTrac says that a million homeowners could be forced out of their properties in 2009.

The strife in the US housing market is central to the problems in the world economy. As house prices boomed, Americans were encouraged to take out ever-racier mortgages, betting that they would always be able to sell the homes at a profit.

Once the bubble popped, millions of people were left owing far more money than their homes were worth, a disastrous blow to consumer confidence.

Almost 260,000 properties got a default notice - a note warning that the property is going to be put up for auction - in November.

Robert Hall, a professor at Stanford University, said: "The forces leading to foreclosure are hard to offset in most cases, and impossible in many. Job loss is a major source of defaults at all times, and job losses are running at extreme levels now."

More than 530,000 American's were fired last month, the fastest pace in 34 years. There have been almost two million job cuts this year so far.

This means that the housing crisis has spread far beyond the original subprime mortgage issue. Subprime mortgages are given to borrowers who might struggle to meet payments even in good times.