First-time buyers have always found it hard to get on the property ladder but new research shows that young house hunters find it harder to get a foot on the property ladder in the South West than any other English region.

Even though house prices in the South West are lower than they are in London and the South East, low rates of pay put the dream of home ownership out of the reach on many young couples and families in the region.

The study, by Steve Wilcox at the University of York, is based on local prices for four/five-room dwellings at the end of 2002. It includes residence-based data from a new earnings survey not previously available. The results challenge prevailing assumptions and policies.

Outside London, access to home ownership is more difficult in the South West region than in the South East. The house price to household income ratio exceeds five to one in twelve areas in the South West, in one area in the South East, and in four areas in the East Region.

Fewer than one in five working households can afford to buy in nine areas of the South West, but in only three areas in the South East and East Regions.

Affordability most acute in London

Affordability issues for key workers are most acute in London and the South East. Some 40 districts in and around London are worst affected.

This is because their earnings are based on national pay scales. London and other related salary supplements are insufficient to offset the higher housing costs in those areas. In forty-six areas, even a key worker couple with two incomes could not afford to buy at lower quartile house prices.

Outside London

Homes in Purbeck, East Dorset, the Cotswolds, Devon’s Torbay or North Cornwall require almost as big a share of the average pay packet for local workers under 40 as higher priced homes in the London boroughs of Westminster, Camden and Islington do.

Fewer than one in five working households can afford to buy in nine areas of the South West, but in only three areas in the South East and East Regions.

Of the most acute 25 locations only 14 are in London

1. Westminster
2. Camden
3. Islington
4. Kensington & Chelsea
5. Hackney
6. Purbeck ... in the South West
7. Richmond Upon Thames
8. Ealing
9. Haringey
10. East Dorset ... in the South West
11. Hillingdon
12. Harrow
13. Epsom & Ewell ... in the Sout East
14. Three Rivers ... in the East
15. Tower Hamlets
16. Hounslow
17. Cotswold ... in the South West
18. Southwark
19. Hertsmere ... in the East
20. Torbay ... in the South West
21. North Cornwall ... in the South West
22. Salisbury ... in the South West
23. Welwyn Hatfield ... in the East
24. Lambeth
25. North Devon ... in the South West

In Westminster the average price for a 4/5 room dwelling is £448,382 and the average working household income is £56,625 giving a ratio of 7.92. In North Devon however, the ratio is 5.1 with an average price of £117,723 and an income of £23,082.