The latest victim of the US housing crisis? Pets, according to a report on Dow Jones MarketWatch.

In the swank Country Club area of Anthem, Ariz., Barbara Ward-Windgassen’s rescue group has saved a bichon frise, Lhasa apso and shih tzu — some with their leashes still on — after their owners had abandoned them in their foreclosed high-priced homes.

She’s also helped find new homes for a rottweiler and pit bull that were being cared for over the fence by neighbors for nearly two months after the family left them in the back yard when their house was taken back by the bank.

Unfortunately, there are no national statistics to support the claim that the reported rise in abandoned pets is linked to the ongoing housing crisis.

“The housing crisis is the result of the misdirected incentives caused by the mortgage-securitization business,” says Martin Hutchinson, contributing editor to the Money Map Report and Money Morning.

While doom and gloom pervades in the housing sector in the US, Brazil is home to the world’s hottest housing market, according to DailyWealth’s Tom Dyson.