THE true scale of the affordable homes crisis facing desperate first-time buyers in York has been laid bare in a dossier of evidence submitted to MPs.

City of York Council has sent a memorandum to a House of Commons select committee to prove that problems caused by spiralling property prices and the "right to buy" scheme are not just limited to London and the south-east.

The document supports York MP Hugh Bayley's bid for York be treated as a special case when extra housing cash is allocated by the Government.

It reveals the gap between earnings and average house prices in York is now as large as in the hot-spots which have been singled out for urgent action by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

According to council officials, the average sale price of a terraced house in York is now £95,000, while a flat or maisonette costs £96,000.

Yet the average household income in the city is only £20,864 - with 57 per cent of families earning less than £20,000.

This means the ratio of earnings to house prices is now 3.4, above the normal "three times your salary" level of lending offered by many mortgage companies and on a par with the average for the south-east.

So-called hotspots Reigate and Banstead, Hastings, Maidstone, South Buckinghamshire and Chiltern all have lower earnings to house prices ratios, the city council has discovered.

The council says the city needs 954 new affordable homes a year for the next five years, but less than 200 per year are currently being built, resulting in increasing levels of homelessness and a large waiting list for housing, around 4,500 households.

It is worried that authorities such as York will be severely disadvantaged if there is a view that affordability problems only exist in the south-east. "Unlike most of the north, there is a very high demand (in York) for housing."

Councillor Viv Kind, former executive member for housing, said today: "We have asked Mr Bayley to lobby the Government to recognise York as a special case in the North of England."

She said the spiralling cost of property was affecting not just people wanting to buy but also those wanting to rent.

Council leader Dave Merrett recently revealed in an Evening Press online debate that planners may help tackle York's problems by insisting that half of properties in future housing developments are affordable.

Mr Bayley, who has called for the city to be handed millions of extra pounds to build more new "affordable" homes, is urging Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to make York a special case when he allocates a £1.1 billion increase in housing spending announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown in the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Mr Prescott has pledged to spend a large chunk of the money on affordable homes for the south-east.

The remainder will be spent on bringing "abandoned" houses in northern cities back into use.

Mr Bayley said: "York has got a serious problem and it is important we get the same favourable treatment as councils in the south-east."

The select committee is expected to publish its recommendations in the next few months.

Updated: 11:53 Friday, November 01, 2002