Commenting on repossession figures released today, Gavin Corbett, Head of Policy at Shelter Scotland, the housing and homelessness charity, said:

'As these figures show, 2008 was a very bad year for tens of thousands of homeowners who endured the heartbreaking trauma of losing their home. Now the CML prediction of 75,000 repossessions this year seems all too realistic as the economic situation worsens.

'With the CML also estimating that half a million people will fall into mortgage arrears this year, there is no doubt that many homeowners will plunge further into debt as they turn to credit cards and loans in an effort to keep the sheriff officers from the door.'

Mr Corbett added: 'Our own research released this week estimates, that across the UK, more than 160,000 homeowners with sub prime mortgages are struggling or falling behind with their mortgage payments, with many expecting to be repossessed in the next six months.'

Shelter is calling for urgent action by both the Scottish and UK Governments, lenders and the FSA to provide a package of real help to all struggling homeowners, including sub-prime borrowers.

Mr Corbett said: 'The Scottish Government has set up its own working group to address repossessions by 30 April. These figures show how urgent that work is.'

Notes to editors

1. Shelter's survey was conducted online with 1,212 sub-prime borrowers from across the UK between 30th Jan 2009 to 03rd Feb 2009 by YouGov’s Financial Services Group.  The figures are unweighted. The borrowers in the survey have been defined as sub-prime if their lender was felt to be primarily operating in the sub-prime market or because they said, in a previous survey, that they had a credit repair mortgage.
2. Separate Scottish figures for repossessions are not currently available; however the Scottish Government is working on proposals to remedy this. In evidence to the Scottish Parliament last week, Shelter Scotland estimated that possessions could rise to 6-7,000 a year in 2009.