The recession is still being felt in the property market, where hundreds of people are being forced to abandon their homes.
Latest mortgagee sales figures from Terralink show 298 forced sales during October, down from September's historical high of 343.
Managing Director Mike Donald says despite the decrease, the overall picture still shows numbers at an all-time high.
"It's still a volatile situation and the numbers of mortgagee sales we have been seeing shows the length of time it takes to work through the financial stress of the recession."
The percentage of mortgagee sales from individual homeowners with only one property has been climbing, Donald says.
"These are the people who we'd probably think of as the `Mum and Dad' homeowners. They now make up nearly one in four of the total mortgagee sales in New Zealand, or 24%.
"As the year has gone on, and spending has decreased, and redundancies have increased more and more ordinary New Zealanders have been affected by the recession. Forced sales of their homes has unfortunately been a consequence for some."
Waikato has been badly hit, with a 22% increase in the number of forced sales in October.
Auckland, Otago, Southland and Taranaki also saw increases.
Mortgagee sales accounted for almost 5% of the total nationwide property sales in October.
