Mr Harvey said wealthy overseas individuals were “walking away” because it is cheaper than refixing in the current mortgage market.
He added: “It’s strategic. People borrow heavily when they’re buying those assets for all sorts of tax reasons. Because money’s cheap and they can do other things with their money that makes them more money, so they don’t need to use their own cash, they borrow it instead.
“But when the market turns and the capital value has gone down, why hold on to it?”
Mr Harvey said it can be “easier for owners to walk away than refinance expensively”.
If they are international buyers, he said it can be difficult for banks to track them down to get back the rest of the money they are owed.
However, some stand to benefit from a rise in repossessions. “Unfortunately, it’s a sad reflection of a changed market. But it does present opportunities for buyers that have been more strategic and have been waiting on the sidelines for the market to come down,” explained Mr Hopper.
Typically the properties will first be made available off market but will fail to sell, prompting a public listing at a lower price, and a subsequent listing without the furniture at an even bigger discount.
Mr Hopper said he expected repossessions of premium properties to continue rising next year as more people reach the end of cheap pandemic-era mortgage deals.
Nathan Emerson, chief executive of trade body Propertymark, said banks have become much stricter with their lending criteria which has made it more difficult for people to remortgage alongside higher rates.
In previous market downturns in the 1980s and 1990s, he said repossessions also typically hit higher-price properties first before affecting cheaper homes because people had taken out much bigger loans.