The average house price is nine times the average salary

High house prices in the South West are leading to a staggering rise in homelessness.

New figures show the number of people in temporary housing has risen by 70% over the past five years.

The figure is as high as 800% in some parts of the region.

The National Federation of Housing report says the situation in the South West is "at crisis point".

The report says the core problem is the high cost of housing.

There will be serious economic consequences for Devon and Cornwall if we do not have affordable homes Devon & Cornwall Housing Association

In Devon, the average salary is �19,000, but the average cost of a home is �160,000 - nine times higher.

Many people simply cannot afford to buy, or rent, so more and more people are homeless.

The biggest rise - of 800% - was at Teignbridge in Devon, where 418 people now live in temporary accommodation.

In Cornwall, the sharpest increase was in Penwith at 280%.

The federation says that more affordable housing needs to be built.

Since the right to buy scheme was introduced 20 years ago, 128,000 homes have been sold in the South West.

Yet in the same period, only 11,000 new homes have been made available.

Teresa Butchers, chief executive of Devon & Cornwall Housing Association, said: "There will be serious economic consequences for Devon and Cornwall if we do not have the affordable homes available to house key public sector workers and people on lower incomes.

"Companies will struggle to recruit and retain staff and it will be very hard to attract inward investment.

"We will continue to fall further behind London and the South East."