Housing campaigners are urging the Scottish Government to scrap the right to buy for council and housing association tenants.
The charity Shelter Scotland said doing this will encourage local authorities to invest more in social housing.
With 156,000 households on the waiting list for a council property, 10,000 new social houses are needed a year to meet current demand, Shelter Scotland believes.
But in the last decade 92,000 council properties have been sold through right-to-buy, which allows tenants to purchase their home at a discounted price, according to the charity.
Since the entitlement was established, during Margaret Thatcher's rule, about 455,000 homes have been bought, with almost two-thirds of properties in Scotland now owner-occupied,
About 534,000 tenants have the right to buy their council or housing association home, with 207,000 entitled to a discount of up to 70%.
The Scottish Government is now consulting on reforming the policy, with the option of scrapping it altogether being considered.
In its response to the consultation, Shelter Scotland said right-to-buy should be abolished. Failing that, it would only support major reform of the policy so that all tenants get a modernised scheme with smaller discounts where they had to wait longer to be eligible to buy their home, the charity said.
Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown said: "Right-to-buy has greatly benefited many thousands of council tenants who have been able to buy their home at a discount. But the good fortune of a few has come at the cost of many more people having to go through the despair and frustration of sitting on council waiting lists for months and years."
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