NOW is not a good time to look for your first house. Homes that were once within reach of someone earning an average wage are now little more than a pipe dream.

Take the cheapest house currently advertised in Swindon a repossessed three-bed mid terrace in Penhill.

It costs £78,950, which means you would need a single income of £22,000 or joint income of £31,000 to be eligible for a mortgage to buy it.

Hardly a palace, the 1960s property is built from concrete and steel. But even ex-council houses do not come cheap these days.

James Beck, estate agent partner at Halifax, said: "Properties under £80,000 are like gold dust. People are snapping them up before the prices go up.

"It is fairly basic but the price is right. The market is so buoyant because people are still paying silly prices."

He cannot see the trend stopping because supply is so short.

"This time last year we had more than three times as many properties on the market. Demand is forcing prices sky high and there is no sign of change ahead," he added.

If the Penhill house sounds over-priced, look down the road where Mr Beck says a less desirable house was sold for £74,500 a fortnight ago.

He said: "That one was not double- glazed. Prices are jumping in just a matter of days."

As building societies forecast still greater increases, a frightening sense of 'buy now or forever be without a house' is sweeping Swindon.

Window-shopping in the estate agents is a sure-fired recipe to make you consider emigrating.

Swindon-based Nationwide Building Society predicted this week that house prices will show a rise of almost 20 per cent by the end of the year.

But prices in Swindon are soaring by nearly 15 per cent in less than three months an average £193 increase a day.

A basic two-bedroom mid-terrace in Gorse Hill sold for £98,000 in April. Today an almost identical house in the same road went for £112,500.

Up north, this money would secure something far more spacious than a standard two-up two-down. Granted, the properties are modern, with front and back gardens and garages. But they are hardly oozing with character and would scarcely feature on a first home wish list.

Mr Beck said: "Within days of going on the market, the house was snapped up. Properties are going like hot cakes, but we were surprised at how quickly this one went. It was an optimistic price for an unspectacular property."

The average house price in the South West is £118,958. This amounts to an annual increase of more than 20 per cent, making the region the dearest to live in, outside London and the South East.

But Nationwide says there is no need to panic. Spokeswoman Sherrie Rowlands said: "We increased our estimate for house price growth from 10 to 18 per cent this year. But this nearly double growth rate is not sustainable."

She said that growth levels are expected to moderate, returning to five or six per cent next year.