Every hour of every day an Aussie family is being ordered out of their home. That's 9,111 families a year, and usually it’s the big banks that get the blame when the great Australian dream is destroyed.

There's no escaping that Tess Lawrence is targeting her bank, spray painting one of her five homes in protest to what she claims is an unfair repossession.

The truth is, often there’s no winner when banks are forced to call in unpaid mortgages.

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Supreme Court documents show that Lawrence owes the NAB more than $3.4 million across five properties, and she hasn't paid since November 2007 - that's four years in arrears.

A statement from NAB explains that despite a Supreme Court Order, they've let Lawrence remain living in one of the homes rent-free. According to NAB "as a creditor in a bankruptcy, the bank is simply exercising our rights in an unfortunate situation."

Eventually though Lawrence will be forced out.

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It's a scenario playing out across the country in record numbers.

“Unfortunately the bottom line is these days if you don't pay your bills, the bank calls up the mortgage - that's the rule,” real estate agent John Keating said.

Keating has been engaged by the bank to sell the home - his second in a week.

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“I have sympathy for anybody that gets sold up by the bank. You know I don't know what's happened in her life, but it is very sad,” he said.

Phillip and Tammy Leverington are also in over their heads.

Like many young couples lured into the housing market with generous incentives, Phillip and Tammy bought their first home four years ago.

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“It wasn't flash you know, wasn't massive, all that kind of stuff, but it was just good to have your own house,” Phillip said.

“We had very high hopes,” Tammy added.

Things took a turn for the worse last year after they both found themselves without work, and they couldn't meet their repayments.

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“I thought we would manage, you know that's why we planned to have a baby, but it all fell through really,” Tammy said.

But the biggest blow came when their bank told them their home would be repossessed.

“Unfortunately the great Australian dream of owning a house in this country is going to be a thing of the past,” Alice Clark from Shelter SA said.

Clark says South Australia now holds the dubious title of the state with the highest rate of mortgage stress, with around one in five borrowers feeling the pressure. But other states aren't far behind.

In 2010, 597 writs to repossess homes were issued. Last year that number rose to 821 - that's a heartbreaking 38 per cent increase.

“What we're seeing today is that people are paying more than 50 per cent of their income on their mortgage,” Clark said.

Despite the mining boom, Western Australian mortgagees are also buckling under the weight of their home loans, and being forced to hand over the keys and walk away. Last year 2000 Queensland homes were also lost due to defaults - that's a twenty per cent increase.

Mortgage stress in Victoria and New South Wales has seen an eleven per cent increase in writs issued in those states.

And it's the blue collar workers living in the outer suburbs of capital cities that are hurting most.

“There's a group of people who previously were financially secure, and suddenly have reached a tipping point,” Ross Womersley from South Australia's Council of Social Services said.

Womersley says home owners who aren't coping should seek help quickly.

“It would be to encourage people to overcome a sense of shame about their circumstances, and to seek help early, because it's at that point in time that people can give the most assistance,” he said.

If you don't, as Phil and Tammy found out, banks enforce massive default fees.

“One was just added not long ago for $3,500. How are you meant to catch up if you're paying a monthly total, and they're adding more onto it,” asked Phil.

Last week, they took their case to the Supreme Court in a bid to stall their bank from foreclosing.

“Adjourned it for four weeks, so hopefully we can play it smart and just get rid of the house in the meantime,” Phil said.

This reporter is on Twitter at @JonathanCreek