SHOCKING new figures have put the average house price in parts of Dorset at nearly a quarter-of-a-million pounds.

And sky-rocketing prices in East Dorset have escalated by 220 per cent in just four years.

To get a mortgage for an average priced home in the east of the county now requires an annual salary of £67,000 - yet the average wage in Dorset is only £24,377.

It has left many first-time buyers and young couples without a hope of buying a home in rural areas where they have grown up.

Houses in most parts of Dorset are now unaffordable for all but the wealthiest buyers, according to a national housing group.

And the National Housing Federation is warning the whole south west region has reached a critical point.

The average house in East Dorset in 1999 cost £73,500, last year it was £235,000. It is a similar story in North Dorset and Purbeck.

This should be a wake-up call to the government according to Peter Simmons of the Federation.

"A lot of people with money are retiring to this region. Earnings tend to be low in the south west so it is a double-whammy - lower than average wages and higher than average house prices," he said.

"The nightmare projection is, if the south west fills with retired people, who is going to be the care workers if young people are not there to look after them?"

June Salt, chair of the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils, believes it spells trouble for years to come.

She said: "This is an enormous problem, not least because the young people can't stay in their villages anymore because they can't afford to buy.

"Older people are buying property and moving in. The age of the population is going up and the village schools are being affected because there are less children."

She believes the answer lies in planners taking action and providing new homes, though not at the expense of the countryside, adding: "Dorset is very beautiful and we need to keep that rural tranquillity.

"We do have to balance the environment with the needs of the people. Regional planners are more keen on enlarging the urban areas but it does mean that young people have to move away to these places."

In its updated report the National Housing Federation shows that from having below average house prices in 1999 the south west now has above average house prices and yet incomes are lower than the national benchmark.

In North Dorset house prices rose 101 per cent between 1999 and 2003, when they averaged £188,071, according to the Land Registry.

Mr Simmons said: "The south west is the fastest growing region in the country in terms of population and that is projected to continue for a number of generations.

"There needs to be more housing. The south west lost out when the government was last giving money out to the regions, that was when a lot of the money went to the south east.

"We've heard a lot about the pressure on housing in the south east and the Thames gateway but not about the south west."

The government has set a target of between 6,000 and 10,000 new affordable homes for the south west each year. In 2003 just 1,533 were completed.

Mr Simmons believes there should now be reforms to the house building and planning system and better allocation of government spending.

First published: April 26