THE average price of a home in the North York Moors national park has soared to more than £160,000 - 25pc up on last year.

The new survey says the price rules out any hope of many local residents working in the park being able to afford to buy.

The figure of £160,465 compares with £93,235 for a home in the rest of North Yorkshire, £66,234 in the Yorkshire and Humber region, and £110,570 nationally.

The survey found only one property for sale under £50,000.

"This illustrates the problem faced by many local people who are unable to afford housing in the park, particularly those wanting to get on the first step of the property ladder," said Mr Tom Gill, park planning assistant.

New figures from the Agricultural Wages Board, show that the average farm worker earns £269 a week, enabling them to get a mortgage of only £38,736, while a skilled park estate worker earns £242, allowing a mortgage of just under £35,000.

"Recent analysis carried out by the National Housing Federation showed that to buy an average priced house of £101,866 in North Yorkshire, based on a 95pc mortgage, a person would need to be earning £32,258," said Mr Gill.

The average price of a detached house in the park rose from £150,000 to £190,000 in the past 12 months.

However, Mr Gill said that figure was distorted by the considerable number of large properties for sale within the park.

The overall number of homes for sale had fallen from 161 to 99 in the past year, compared to 400 when the house price survey began in 1991.

Members of the national park planning committee this week expressed concern at the soaring prices.

"This rules out any hope of many local residents working in the park to be able to afford to buy," said Mrs Betsy Hill.

"This is becoming a huge social problem. We want to keep our young people in the park but people on high incomes are coming into the area to buy property forcing up prices."

Mrs Pat Chandler said she, too, was very concerned at the lack of affordable housing for young people.

"It is not just a case of people coming into the area to buy holiday homes but snapping up barn conversions too."

Another committee member said he was totally against people buying homes they only visited for two to three weeks a year.

"I would like to see villages come alive and keep our post offices, shops and other facilities going," he added.

Mrs Hill added: "Even our young university graduates with good jobs and earning an average £35,000 still cannot afford our cheapest houses."

Planning officer Mrs Val Dilcock said that building smaller houses didn't necessarily solve the problem either as they were still too expensive and attracted people who wanted second homes.

"More houses coming onto the market isn't necessarily the answer," she said.

Several members suggested that an answer was for long-term rented property to be built for park workers.

But this too, wasn't an ideal answer, added Mrs Hill, as the rents charged would be higher than a mortgage for a £90,000 house