House prices for first time buyers throughout the UK have risen a staggering 200% in a decade, the annual Roof Affordability Index has revealed.

The Index shows the average first time property price has rocketed from £52,674 to £159,494.

The figure is higher in London with first time buyers facing a massive 250% rise to almost £260,000.

The report, confirms the fears that first time buyers are facing the hardest ever battle to buy their first property.

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The Index also shows that while the average weekly income of working households has risen 53% over the last 10 years from £590 to £900, the average monthly mortgage payment has increased dramatically over the same period from £304.80 to £827.87.

Shelter Chief Executive Adam Sampson said: "These new figures show in full the true and worsening situation first time buyers find themselves in. Every year the gulf between what first time buyers can afford and the cost of housing is widening.

"Despite falling house prices, many lenders are increasing their mortgage rates, making an already desperate situation worse. It means there is a generation of young people and young families being locked out of the housing market without a hope of ever sharing in the asset wealth of the generation before."

(CD/JM)