THE average worker in Ryedale needs to have their salary more than doubled to be able to afford a house in the district, according to a report from the National Housing Federation.

The group’s recent Home Truths report 2017/18, released last week, says that the average house price of £242,596 is more than 10 times the district’s mean annual earnings, which were £23,785 in 2017.

For an 80 per cent mortgage at an optimal 3.5 times salary, pay would need to be £55,450 - an increase of 133 per cent.

The report, which is based on statistics from the Office for National Statistics, also says there are 218 long-term empty homes in the district, and that 805 properties are second homes.

It adds that just 26 per cent of Ryedale homeowners have a mortgage, compared with 41 per cent who own their homes outright. The rest are rented either from the district council, a housing association, or privately.

Sharon Squires, the Federation’s external affairs manager for Yorkshire and Humber, said: “It’s worrying that house prices and rents keep going up while wages stagnate.

“This is making life increasingly difficult for people living and working in the region. The region desperately needs to increase the supply of new homes, for sale and for rent.

“Most importantly it needs to increase the supply of genuinely affordable housing to ensure people across all income spectrums have a quality place to live.”

The National Housing Federation’s members are housing associations and it campaigns on affordable housing issues.

Professor Ed Ferrari, from the centre for regional economic and social research, said: “The Home Truths report provides a powerful reminder of the ongoing difficulties people in Yorkshire face in securing decent and affordable housing.

“The evidence of a growing disconnect between the housing market and the realities of a low-wage economy in many parts of the region tells us that while more and better housing is urgently needed, a focus on quality jobs and economic prosperity also needs to be part of the equation.”

On Thursday, the ONS said that latest estimates suggest that households were ‘net borrowers’ in 2017 for the first time since records began 30 years ago. This means that, UK-wide, households accrued more debt than they did assets for the first time since 1987. This is down to falling real-term wages: household disposable income growth slowed to 0.1 per cent at the end of 2017.