I heard with interest that the Halifax Bank now thinks more than 39 per cent of local authority areas have homes that first-time buyers can afford.

I doubted this, but decided to try out its website to see if as a first-time buyer I could get a mortgage.

I entered the details required and put in the house value as £120,000, which still does not get you very much in York; a two-bed terrace was my aim. However, because I could not find a £12,000 deposit the website said “no”. I do wonder sometimes what planet mortgage lenders live on.

They also report that first-time buyers borrowed an average of about £104,000 in 2009, putting down a deposit of £29,439.

Unless these first-time buyers had inherited money they must have had a very good “bank of mum and dad”.

Considering most young couples in York are perhaps, if lucky, earning about £25,000 to £30,000 between them before deductions and then living costs and rent (about £600 a month for a two-bed property) how can they save £12,000? And what of single people? How can they ever get on the property ladder or afford the private rented sector unless they are earning in access of £30,000 per year?

So I will start this new year by continuing to say that York needs more “affordable housing” for York’s young people for the future and York’s current workers, be they single or families.

It is just not financially sensible for these people to stay renting in York’s private sector housing for the long term due to the high costs.

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, Labour spokesperson for housing and adult social services, Salisbury Road, York.