YOUNG people in Essex are in danger of being locked out of the property market as average house prices reach 11 times the average salary, new figures reveal.

The average property in the county costs nearly £250,000, meaning a worker earning the typical wage, £22,400, would have to save half their salary each month for six years to raise the 25 per cent deposit usually needed.

But to obtain such a favourable mortgage on the average house in Essex, the National Housing Federation says you need to earn £52,942 a year, something they claim that threatens to block a whole generation from getting on the property ladder.

The federation's Claire Astbury said: "Essex has become unaffordable for ordinary, hard-working people who have little realistic chance of buying their own house, triggering even a greater demand for good social housing or a desperate search for a home in the more expensive private rented sector.

"There is a desperate need for more affordable homes in rural and urban communities."

She warns that the twin problem of increasing social housing waiting lists and unreachable high prices is making it near impossible for younger people and lower income earners to get on the property ladder.

First-time buyer Amanda Bhavnani, 31, has bought a one-bedroom flat in the centre of Braintree.

She said: "I would never have been able to afford a first-time flat without inheritance money left for me by my grandad.

"I have had the money for a couple of years but now I am moving into the flat in central Braintree because the time is right.

"I am hopeless at saving anyway, and after all the bills are paid I am usually only left with around £10 a month, which is nothing.

"It is pretty much impossible and there is no way I could ever afford a property without the help from my grandad.

"The financial climate at the moment and interest rates are through the roof, my bills just go up and up like everyone else, but I knew as soon as I was able to buy a house I would."

Director of Martin and Co in Chelmsford Stephen Frost claims his letting agency has been busy all year, with more people sticking to rented accommodation.

In a town populated with students attending Anglia Ruskin University, Steve has found many international students taking up many of his luxury properties, like Marconi Plaza at the bus station in Duke Street.

"Once upon a time there were 30 letting agents in Chelmsford. Now there are 44; that if anything shows a sign of the times," he said.

"At this current time, with deposits so high it has meant people cannot go on the ladder and the bank of mum and dad has run dry.

"This is good for us, and we have been really busy with people staying much longer in rented accommodation.

"Where they were usually staying for six months, they are now with us for 18 months or longer, because they cannot afford to move out into a house.

"It is a big commitment for younger people, and they know they are better off in rented accommodation.

"People in their 50s would associate renting with dead money, but they have to realise everything has changed."

But there are still options for young people to buy their own home, including housing association schemes such as rent-to-buy initiatives, in which people can rent at a discounted rate and then buy a share of the property later with the money they have saved.

"I think it's practically impossible to get on the property ladder in the conventional way," 21-year-old Natalie Taylor said.

"Even if you do manage to scrape together a deposit, the mortgage repayments are absolutely huge."

Together with her husband Craig Kelly, 27, a trainee quantity surveyor, she signed up to the Chelmer Housing Partnership's rent-to-buy scheme.

The couple rent their £170,000 two-bedroom coach house in Springfield for below market value and have committed to buy the property in increments over the next few years.

Craig said: "We were quite fortunate that this scheme came up, property prices are absolutely crazy and saving up for a deposit is just impossible.

"The only way we could have done was to live at one of our mum and dad's homes for years and save every penny we earned. Obviously, for a recently married couple that wouldn't have been ideal."

Critically though, the housing crisis is only going to get worse. The number of people requiring homes in the East of England is forecast to rise 34 per cent by 2033, the largest jump in the country.

Chelmer Housing Partnership CEO Stuart Stackhouse said: "It's a simple question of supply and demand."

"There are too many people needing homes and not enough houses."

This imbalance, he says, will continue to keep property prices sky high and add to the demand for social housing.

He said: "We've taken over 540 additional properties in the last year and we're trying to turn round vacant buildings as quickly as possible. But new houses need to be built.

"One of the problems, though, is that there is such opposition to new houses from local people.

"You've heard of Nimby [Not In My Back Yard] but the new thing is Banana – Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything."