Americans who have lost their homes in the property crisis are starting to lose their possessions too as even the cost of storage proves too much for them.

Auctioneers across the United States are conducting sales at self-storage facilities, selling off the contents of units belonging to people who have fallen behind with their payments.

Thousands of Americans have lost their homes in the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and many have turned to putting their belongings in storage ready for a day when they could buy another home.

There are 51,000 self-storage facilities across the US and business has been booming since the recession.

Ironically, many of the companies have tempted poorer customers with the same low “teaser” rates that prompted them to buy homes they later could not afford when the rates increased.

When a storage unit renter cannot meet their monthly payments, the facility’s owner is usually entitled to sell the contents – often for a knockdown price.

Blair Auction & Appraisal, which conducts auctions at self-storage facilities in the Mid-West, said it recently sold the contents of 45 units at one site in Detroit alone.

“If the site used to have 10 auctions, these days it has 15 or 20,” Wayne Blair, the company’s owner, told the New York Times.