THE number of under-40 year olds in Hillingdon who can't afford to buy even the cheapest two bedroom home is among the highest in the country.

A new study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed that 45.5 per cent of young couples living in the borough are stuck in a situation where their incomes are too high for housing benefit but they don't earn enough to buy a modest family home at the market value.

Prof Steve Wilcox of the University of York who compiled the report based his analysis on mortgage advances and average earnings of 20 to 39 year olds in 2004.

He says: "The findings reveal a yawning gap in the market for schemes such as shared ownership and attractively priced renting.

"The need is potentially much larger than previously recognised by government or housing providers. At the very least the figures justify some new and creative thinking on ways that the current range of schemes could be expanded to appeal to the growing number of young, working households who simply cannot afford local house prices.

Overall ratios of house prices to working household incomes are at record levels nationally. In Hillingdon, a couple would need a joint income of £43,157 to be able to afford the repayments on a property bought for £171,050 the average price of a home at the bottom end of the market last year.