North and West Dorset are two of the least affordable rural areas in Britain, a report has found.

North Dorset is the number one least affordable rural area, with West Dorset coming in at joint number nine, in terms of their house price-to-local earnings ratio, according to the Halifax Rural Housing Review.

House prices are on average more than 11 times the size of local earnings in North Dorset and more than nine times the size of local earnings in West Dorset.

This is in stark contrast to some of the most affordable rural areas in the country such as Copeland and East Ayrshire, the two most affordable areas, where prices are only just over four times that of local earnings.

The Halifax report also revealed that rural homes across the country are 20 per cent more expensive on average than those in urban areas, with the figure standing at 23 per cent for the South West. 

Local estate agents have reacted to the findings.

James Green, manager of Stags Estate Agents’ Bridport office, suggested Halifax’s findings sounded right.

He said: “I would say they are pretty accurate because in general house prices in Dorset are very strong but local wages are pretty similar, so if you have housing stock selling at a higher level that would be difficult for the home buyers.”

Mr Green added that, in Dorset, the rural premiums “could easily be” higher than in the rest of the South West, because demand is outstripping supply due to people from richer regions buying up the county’s limited rural housing stock.

He suggested that to help local buyers planners must ensure that a greater percentage of houses built should be affordable homes, to buy rather than to rent, and that a certain proportion of these should be reserved for those who live locally.

Polly Greenway, director of DOMVS, which deals in property across Dorset, said: “For North and West Dorset, yes they are expensive areas to live in and it is not easy for first time buyers to step onto the ladder in those areas now. I think more and more people outside the area are discovering the beauty of North and West Dorset. Affordability levels for first time buyers are difficult.”

Mrs Greenway also commented on the premiums people pay for countryside homes.

She said: “If they are larger and have more land then that is what is going to attract a premium – and the same with coastal properties. Equally an elegant town house with space and parking also attracts a premium.”

The director added that house prices in Dorset more generally are currently fairly stationary.

She said: “I do not think the prices are coming down. I think they are quite static. Do I think prices are going to drop? I do not think they are, but I do not think prices are going to run away with themselves either.”