First-time buyers in the UK need to earn an average minimum of £41,000 to get on the housing ladder, a new report says.

The figure compares with the average UK salary of £22,044, suggesting that successful first-time buyers are – as has been traditional – couples where both are in work.

However, a couple in London where both earned the average wage would not be able to step on the housing ladder. In London, the average salary required to buy a home is £77,000, compared with the average salary in the capital of £27,999.

In the south-east, however, borrowers would need an annual wage of £46,010, against the average wage of £24,391, meaning that getting on the housing ladder should not be impossible for most couples.

The figures in the KPMG report are based on first-time house prices, and on a borrower taking out a 90% loan-to-value mortgage at a loan-to-income ratio of 4.5.

The most affordable area is the north-east, where first-time buyers need to earn at least £23,616. The region’s average wage is £20,149.

Despite the fact that the figures actually look promising for first-time buyer couples outside London, KPMG head of housing Jan Crosby said: “These figures make for frightening reading and show that housing affordability is no longer just a problem for lower wage earners.

“Now unless you earn well above average or receive an inheritance, it is unlikely you will be afford to buy, no matter where in the UK you live.

“And yet this isn’t just about home ownership, because our findings show genuine concern over wider affordability of housing, whether buying or renting.

“Being able to live in a stable home is a basic human need, tied up with important feelings of choice and certainty, and we are living in a world now where only a few can hope for that, which cannot be right.”

Eye wonders if first-time buyers are repeatedly told how impossible it is to get on the housing ladder, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As always, we would be very interested to hear your views.