The bank linked its figures to urban deprivation

The Bank of Scotland study said that nearly 4% of the country's dwelling stock is currently unoccupied.

The institution has linked areas with a high incidence of empty homes to increased unemployment and urban deprivation.

It urged politicians to take action, but the Scottish Executive dismissed the figures as misleading, saying the majority of vacancies were temporary.

The research found that the highest numbers of Scotland's 87,000 empty homes are in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

However, measured as a proportion of local dwelling stock, the highest number of empty homes are in the Western Isles, where more than 7% of properties are vacant.

Making an area more attractive to live in should significantly reduce the number of empty homes there Tim Crawford Bank of Scotland economist

Areas with the lowest proportion of empty homes include East Dunbartonshire, Midlothian and West Lothian.

The report claims that areas where more than 5% of the dwelling stock is vacant have a higher than average unemployment rate.

It also claims average earnings and house prices are lower in such areas.

Tim Crawford, an economist with the Bank of Scotland, said: "Empty homes and urban deprivation go hand in hand. Government policy, in our view, needs to tackle urban blight and the empty homes problem at the same time.

'Temporary' vacancies

"Making an area more attractive to live in should significantly reduce the number of empty homes there."

But a Scottish Executive spokesman said the figures released by the bank did not tell the full story.

"The vast majority of Scotland's empty properties are only temporarily vacant as households move from one to another after completion of sale or a letting agreement," he said.

"Over half of vacant properties are unoccupied for less than six months.