HOUSES in the South Hams are now 14 times the average wage and people would need a 226 per cent pay rise to afford a mortgage.

The figures come from a Home Truths report from the National Housing Federation, into the housing crisis in the South West, which finds that the average house price in the South Hams is £336,784, while the average wage is £23,613, making a house 14.3 times the average wage.

It states that the income required for an 80 per cent mortgage is £76,979, or two people earning £38,490 each.

The report also found that the average rent for a property is £767 a month, there are 217 long term empty homes and 3,995 second homes.

South Hams District Councillor Julian Brazil said it was another report that ‘confirms what we know’ and called Central Government’s recent white paper on housing ‘disappointing’ saying, they ‘understand the housing market in the South East, but not down here’.

He continued: ‘It used to be that if you did an honest day’s work for an honest wage, you could buy a house for you and your family. You can’t do that anymore. It’s a terrible state of affairs.

‘We need to think radically about the Joint Local Plan and come up with ideas that help local people not landowners or developers. We need to be brave and stand up and say “this is what we’re going to do” and not use the excuse of “this is what the Government told us to do”, even if we fail, at least we’ve tried.’

He said he wanted to see a society where ‘teachers, nurses, care workers, postal workers, rubbish collectors, people who do an honest job can buy their own house’ and that the district council must ‘be brave’.

He referred to St Ives and their ban on any new builds being sold as second homes, saying ‘well done St Ives, they saw a problem and they did what they needed to do. Developers took them to appeal and they won. We need to do something similar.’

The South Hams has the second highest ratio of wage to house price, with the only other higher in the South West being Purbeck in Dorset, which has an average house price 14.5 time higher than the average wage, just 0.2 per cent higher than the South Hams.