Conservative Shadow Housing Minister Grant Sharps has released a report looking at the housing market which has suggested that one in two mortgage holders are fearing missing a mortgage payment during 2009.

The report into “The New Homeless” found one in two people admit to having housing fears for the new year. The report finds that 44 per cent of mortgage holders are worried about being able to meet their mortgage payments in 2009 – and 47 per cent of local authority and housing association tenants are worried about being able to meet their rent payments.

In addition, 41 per cent of private renters fear that they won’t be able to pay the rent over the next 12 months.

Grant, the Shadow Housing Minister, said, “Householders up and down the country and in every kind of housing are now concerned, as never before, about their ability to maintain a roof over their heads over the next 12 months.”

And he stressed, “While Gordon Brown would like us to believe that they fixed the roof when the sun was shining, it’s now becoming clear that for many hard working families keeping a roof over their own head is the top concern.”