SWINDON is one of the worst places in the country for average earners to buy a home, according to a new report.

The study, by the trade union-linked research group Labour Research Department, says local workers have to struggle particularly hard to close the gap between the price of a house and what their salary will buy them.

The researchers have compiled a league table of the areas where the biggest gaps exist, and say Wiltshire is the 11th worst place in England and Wales to buy a home. According to the figures in the report, a couple on an average wage in Wiltshire would fall more than £29,000 short if they tried to raise the £138,552 needed to buy an average Wiltshire house.

So-called key workers, such as a couple of secondary school teachers, would fall £2,300 short, while nurses would be left £27,000 adrift.

The problems key workers have in finding affordable housing is a major headache for employers like Swindon Council and Princess Margaret Hospital.

In September, the council was awarded £1.1 million to give teachers and health workers top up loans of up to £25,000, to try and stop them leaving the area or going where houses are more affordable.

Local estate agent Hallam Beveridge, of Abbey Meads-based Michael Tuck Estate Agents, admitted it was difficult for some Swindon buyers in to get onto the housing ladder.

But he said overall the housing market in Swindon was booming, and that November had been a best-ever month for house sales.

"It is difficult for first time buyers to get on the ladder, but people who are already home owners have got the best chance of buying a better house they have ever had," he said.

Meanwhile Swindon-based Nationwide today claimed the housing market had shown resilience last month with prices rising by 0.7 per cent, more than offsetting October's 0.5 per cent decline.