Thousands of homeowners in Scotland could be living one pay packet away from a housing crisis.

New figures from housing charity Shelter Scotland show almost a third of homeowners with a mortgage have no savings or investments, therefore running the risk of being unable to meet mortgage payments, and at worst becoming homeless, if there was any long term drop in household income.

The shocking new statistics come amid concerns over the direction of the housing market and after warnings that the number of repossessions could rise this year.

The figures show that 265,000 households in Scotland have a mortgage but no savings or investments.

They come on the back of figures showing the charity has seen a sharp rise in the number of visits to its repossessions advice pages on its website.

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Archie Stoddart, director of Shelter Scotland, said: "These stark new figures show how thousands of people in Scotland could be at risk of finding themselves in a housing crisis, and at worst, homeless.

"Too few homeowners realise how fragile their finances are until they hit an unexpected crisis, which prevents them from paying their mortgage and other bills."

Mr Stoddart has said this won’t be the case for everyone but with the potential for unsettling times ahead there needs to be a better safety net in place for homeowners.

Shelter is calling for significant improvements to be made to support people with difficulty in meeting mortgage repayments, and other measures including better recording of information on repossessions in Scotland.

In response to the concerns over the future of the housing market, Shelter has pulled together key commentators on Scottish housing and the economy for a summit this week to look at the state of the housing market and its future.

The summit on May 22 –'The Scottish Housing Bubble' – will examine the prospects for the Scottish housing market. Professor Steve Wilcox, who compiled the recently published ROOF Affordability Index, is one of the experts speaking at the Shelter event. Also speaking will be Jonathan Fair, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, and Dr John Bone from Aberdeen University.

For more information about the May 22 event, visit www.shelter.org.uk/housingbubble

(GK/NS)