People on average wages would need a pay increase of £29,000 to keep up with booming house prices across England, according to housing charity Shelter.

The charity says workers would need to more-then-double their salary, based on a comparison of wage and house price inflation across the country since 1997.

Worst affected areas were in London and the South East. In the London borough of Hackney, wages would need to rise by £100,000 to keep up with properties, it said.

In Brighton and Hove the rise would need to be £47,000 and in Manchester it would need to total £34,000.

Campbell Robb, Shelter's chief executive, said: “When you'd need to more than double your salary just to keep up with rising house prices, it is no surprise that the dream of a home of their own is slipping further out of reach for a generation.”

The impact of the housing shortage has been widespread, with the latest Census showing a drop in home ownership in England for the first time since records began.