Second home owners are pushing up Truro prices according to Shelter

Truro also saw the fastest rise in prices in the region over the 12 months to March 2007 with a 38% increase, according to the Halifax Bank.

The city is now the most expensive in the South West, with an average price for a home of �301,651.

House prices in the region went up by 14.1% over the year, above the UK average increase of 11.1%.

Restrictions call

The figures came amid increasing concern about the supply of affordable housing in Cornwall and the gulf between the price of houses and local wages.

The National Housing Federation, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the South West Planning Consortium said this month the region needed 30,000 new homes over the next 20 years - 7,000 more than in current plans.

There's very little hope for young families on the average wage Geoff Kitchener, Shelter

The group wants restrictions relaxed on building so more homes can be built in remote parts of Cornwall and Devon.

Geoff Kitchener of the charity Shelter in Cornwall said: "The problem for people in Cornwall is not house prices, it's unaffordability.

"Average houses prices are now nearly 10 times the average wage.

"There's very little hope for young families on the average wage."

The problem was made worse by people moving to the area to retire and for second homes.

He said: "There needs to be more affordable housing.

"But those affordable homes should be for rent and with a covenant so that they could not be sold on the open market."