An investigation by the BBC into the state of the US housing market has uncovered a startling trend where people in negative equity allow the banks to repossess their homes.

Karen Trainer, for example, bought a $500,000 apartment in California in May 2006 with money borrowed from a bank.

Two years later, Ms Trainer owed $500,000 on her mortgage, despite the fact that her apartment was only worth $300,000.

According to the report, she decided to stop her mortgage payments and let her bank repossess her home.

The broadcaster believes there is now a "powerful incentive" in the US for homeowners in dire straits to walk away from their mortgages.

Commenting on the trend, Professor Nouriel Roubini of New York University said: "This is becoming a tsunami of voluntary defaults."

Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index recently revealed that US property prices in April were, on average, 15.3 percent lower than in the same month last year.

US consumers struggling with their finances may need to consider debt management plans in the near future.

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