Young people and key workers from across Ox- fordshire have called for action to be taken by the Government and employers to help them get on the property ladder.

First-time buyers struggling to buy homes in the county have spoken to the Oxford Mail about the problems they are facing.

New research by the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed nearly 90 per cent of single people and 56 per cent of couples under the age of 40 in the county could not afford to buy a home.

According to the study, the average price of a four or five-room starter home in Oxfordshire last year was £163,889 -- 4.1 times more than the average £40,231 yearly income of under-40 households.

But, like builder Daniel Morris, 28, of North Leigh, near Witney, who earns about £29,000 a year, many of those who called us earn at least £10,000 less than the average household income.

They would have to borrow more than five times their salary to be able to afford a £150,000 property.

Mr Morris, who hopes to buy a home next year, said: "Not everyone gets as much as £40,000, so mortgages are completely out of reach. "The Government needs to step in and either curb the prices or encourage employers to pay workers living allowances."

Max Tucker, associate with FPD Savills Private Finance in Oxford, said some lenders offered mortgages of more than four times a single borrowers' income -- depending on credit rating and deposit size.

He said: "If your credit score is good you can get a fixed rate which is not going to change in the next two to five years."

Mr Tucker added that a mortgage for £164,000, to buy an average starter home in the county, would cost about £875 a month.

But not everyone can afford high repayments -- as the three workers the Oxford Mail spoke to suggests.