The average first-time buyer must now save three quarters of their income to get a foot on the property ladder, new research has claimed.

In its first accessibility index the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found a first-time-buyer couple must save 74% of their take-home pay to find the £29,200 needed to meet the upfront costs on a typical home, including the deposit and stamp duty.

The RICS says that rising house prices mean that accessibility to the property market is now almost 300% worse than it was in 1996, when the average couple would have needed just a quarter (25.2%) of their income to pay for a deposit on their first home.

RICS also predicts that accessibility will get worse with house prices likely to rise by 10% over the next two years.

Apart from the difficulty of getting on the property ladder affordability is at the worst levels since 1992 with homeowners struggling to service mortgages. A two-person household on average incomes would have to spend 22% of their take home pay to service their mortgage, a significant increase from the low point of 14.1% in 1996.

RICS Economist David Stubbs, said: "Unless house building levels improve, and levels keep pace with population growth and rising income and wealth, people will continue to find it difficult to access the housing market."

"If the housing market is to become more accessible, lenders must continue to offer generous funding levels, and the government should, out of necessity, promote a significant increase in the housing stock."

"The government must act to create more social housing and tackle the problem of nimbyism in the countryside by building affordable housing for key local workers. The financial pressures of up front buying costs and rising energy prices will continue to create a ‘have – and have not’ property society."