Countrywide Financial, the largest mortgage lender in the US, has announced that the number of mortgages in its portfolio nearing foreclosure has nearly doubled in the past year.

The California-based company said that the rate of pending foreclosures, where a mortgagee has a property seized - as a percentage of unpaid principal balances - stood at 0.83 per cent in March, compared with 0.8 per cent in February, and 0.44 per cent a year ago.

The news comes at a time of anxiety about the sluggish state of the US housing market, and amid the ongoing sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Today's figures from Countrywide tally with an industrywide trend in the US: the Mortgage Bankers Association last month said the rate of foreclosures had reached 0.54 per cent, the highest point in 37 years of surveys.

Foreclosures have become more common as the rate at which house prices grow has slowed, and lenders have tightened underwriting standards. In such a climate it has become increasingly difficult for homeowners to refinance their properties.

Countrywide said it had funded $43.28 billion (£21.98 billion) of mortgage loans in March, a 5 per cent increase since last year. A 29 per cent fall was recorded in both adjustable-rate and sub-prime mortgage fundings, to $14.68 billion and $2.36 billion respectively.

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