Owning your own home in Oxfordshire is just a dream for many, according to a new report released this week. The National Housing Federation report, Home Truths 2009, finds that last year the £293,128 cost of an average house in the county was 13.2 times the £22,246 average wage here. In Oxford, the wage-to-price ratio was even worse at 15.4, with the average price of a house at £334,000 and the average wage £21,653.

Peter Jones, a spokesman for the federation, said: “Even though prices have dropped over the past year, they are increasing again now.

“The recession has increased housing need because fewer houses are being built and credit is hard to come by.”

The report found Oxford was the most unaffordable place in the county in which to buy a home. The most affordable district was Cherwell, where the average house cost £233,644 — or just 10.8 times the average wage.

Earlier this year, a report commissioned by the Local Government Association called Cities Outlook 2009, based on 2007 house prices, found that a house in Oxford cost 13 times the average salary.

At that time Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said: “The jobs are available in Oxford, but the homes aren’t.”

He added: “Oxford continues to face severe challenges in terms of the provision of affordable and appropriate housing for all sections of the community.”

Now the federation is calling on the Government to continue injecting high levels of funding into social housing, despite threatened public-spending cuts.

The report said: “Social housing is part of the solution to the housing and economic crisis. Even as public spending tightens, the Government must remember this crucial fact.”

In West Oxfordshire, the average price of a house in 2008 was £258,927 or 11.3 times the average wage of £22,864; in South Oxfordshire residents would have to find 15.2 times their £22,781 wage to meet the average price of £346,417 and in the Vale of the White Horse it was 12.5 times the average wage of £23,842 to meet a price of £297,425.

Frank Webster, of the Summertown office of letting agents Finders Keepers, said: “It is fair to say that many of our tenants may be frustrated house hunters; frustrated due to the lack of stock and frustrated due to the lack of available finance and the ever increasing housing price increases.”

Stuart Wallsworth, of estate agents Thomas Merrifield, with branches in Witney and Oxford, added: “First-time buyers must have got money behind them these days, perhaps from their parents, or they have got a problem buying a home. Buyers definitely need a ten or 15 per cent deposit these days or it is impossible to get a mortgage.”

He added that shared equity schemes were becoming increasingly popular, although buyers still needed a small deposit.

He said: “At the Aspire estate in Witney, where there are 143 apartments over the shops at the new Marriotts Walk shopping centre, housebuilder Linden Homes will take a 15 per cent share in the property and this can act as the deposit. And the money is not repayable until the property is sold.”

In Banbury, Laura Tilley managed to buy her first home with the help of a shared equity scheme and her parents.

Ms Tilley, 29, a credit controller moved into an apartment in David Wilson Mercia’s Moo-ve development in Merton Street, Banbury, earlier this year.

She said: “It was hard moving back to my parents after living away at university and I decided I wanted a place of my own. I initially began looking for rented accommodation and then saw signs for the development and took a look .

“I liked what I saw and moved into a one-bed iPad apartment. But I was lucky because my parents were able to help me with a small deposit.”

Ann Santry, chief executive of Sovereign Housing Group, parent company of Oxfordshire’s largest housing association, Sovereign Vale, said: “Last year we provided more than 100 new homes in Oxfordshire for new tenants, and started building almost 300 more, but we know that this is nowhere near meeting the scale of housing need.”

In June, the Government allocated £1.5bn for new homes. As a result, according to the Government’s Homes and Community Agency there will be 61,500 new grant-aided social homes completed next year (up from 55,625 this year). However, only 29,900 grant-funded housing starts are scheduled for 2010-11.