Prices in Wales are six times average income, research finds

The average house in Wales costs more than �145,000, more than six times the average Welsh salary of �23,500.

Property experts have warned that it means buyers in Wales are among the most stretched in the UK.

And more people are competing for social housing, at a time when stocks have dwindled, the programme finds.

The programme screened on Tuesday looks at the human cost of spiralling house prices, from first-time buyers struggling to get on the ladder to families left homeless after re-possession.

Wales is one of the regions of the country where the statistics look most worrisome Property economist Ed Stansfield

New figures due to be released by Wales' largest building society, the Principality, will show prices have risen by 6.3% in the first quarter of this year, and could reach as much as 25% if they continue to rise at the same pace.

It is making it harder to get on the property ladder and putting pressure on the rented sector, with more people competing for social housing.

Property economist Ed Stansfield tells the programme: "If you are to look at the gap between average earnings in Wales and average prices in Wales, then Wales is one of the regions of the country where the statistics look most worrisome.

Unless I was earning �50,000 a year, it's just not possible at the moment Louise McCarthy

"In London, prices are, in absolute terms, far more expensive than in Wales, but the gap between prices and earnings in London is less marked than it is in Wales."

One example of the dilemma facing first time buyers is Louise McCarthy, 25, a young mother, who says she cannot see how she will get on to property ladder other than depending on her local council.

She said: "They will offer me a council house and then after about five years I will get the right to buy at a cheaper rate.

"So I think that's the only way I can get on the property ladder because being a single person I can't afford a mortgage now on my wage.

"Unless I was earning �50,000 a year, it's just not possible at the moment."

The programme also examines how those trying to buy their first property are traditionally those who miss out when the housing market heats up.

Investors

It claims more first time buyers are depending on their parents, obtaining a 100% mortgage when they can and putting all their costs on a credit card in the hope their property will keeping rising in value.

Others feature include the family left homeless after their first house was repossessed.

But it also talks to some winners in the rising property market, the new breed of investor freeing up equity in their homes for "buy-to-let" schemes.

Week In Week Out is screened at 2235 BST on BBC One Wales on Tuesday 30 May