WORCESTER is facing a "looming crisis" as the director of a financial advice company warns the number of homes being repossessed in the county will increase over the coming months.

Paul Fletcher, of Asset Design, said Worcester is only a few months behind the housing crisis being seen elsewhere and soon we would be seeing people in "payment shock" as their fixed-rate loans run out.

But leading Worcester estate agent Andrew Grant said he believed the city would not suffer badly from repossessions.

Mr Fletcher, who is Barnards Green Road, Malvern, said: "The further into the year we go the more repossessions we will see in Worcester," he said.

"Every week there are between 30 to 40 people facing repossession in the Worcester court, it does not mean their houses are repossessed, but the numbers will go up.

"We are concerned for people and I think there is potentially a looming crisis."

The news comes as Earls Croome Court near Upton upon Severn, the former seat of the late Earl of Coventry, has been repossessed.

The house has been put on the market for £1.95 million after its owner Nicholas Richard Sinclair was declared bankrupt in March this year.

As well as owing Andrew Grant £5,500 from the sale of his last house, he has a £24,347.27 debt with Malvern College and owes Iain Dhu MacDonald £174,425.19.

Agent Andrew Grant said: "I have not seen many repossessions of this type.They are coming but there are not a lot in the Worcester area."

It is predicted the number of repossessions will hit 45,000 in 2008, up from 27,000 in 2007, across the country.

Mr Fletcher said the reason for increased repossessions was due to fixed-rate loans coming to an end.

"It is called payment shock," he said.

"People coming out of their fixed rate loans go on to variable rates.

"They think they can go to existing lenders and get a new loan but they cannot.

"This is happening in the big cities and it will filter out later to the smaller places, such as Worcester."

Despite the prediction, Charles Robinson, principal agent at Griffiths and Charles estate agents in Worcester, said they were not seeing an increase because repossessions were now nationalised.

He said: "Last time this happened in the 1990s, the local bank manager spoke to the local estate agent who would then handle the work.

"Now nothing is done locally - it is all done nationally."

Another estate agent, Kate Francis, manager of Waterfords in Foregate Street, Worcester, said: "The talk is that there are going to be a lot more repossessions.

"Property developers are keeping their ears out for them. Even the banks are expecting them."