Why houses are less affordable then ever – even in Yorkshire

A study of property trends over the last half-century found average house prices after allowing for inflation have increased 273% - equating to an annual rate of 2.7% and outstripping the average real earnings growth rate of 2%.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax said the disparity between wage growth and house price increases could partly be explained by cultural changes since 1959.

During the last half-century there has been a shift from one income to two-wage households as more and more women were able to have careers.

But this is balanced by a "significant" rise in single person households, from less than one in five in England in 1971 to one in three by last year.

Mr Ellis said that if the gap between wage growth and earnings rises continued there would be ever-increasing pressure on successive generations of first time buyers - already a group struggling to get on to the property ladder.

"There must be some sort of ceiling on it, you can't forever get that ratio being stretched," he said.

"It is probably gone as far as it could go."

But he warned: "Unless we can get the supply and demand in a balance then that is going to lead to more upwards pressure on that ratio of prices to earnings."

The Halifax report highlighted the enduring North/South divide in the UK over the last 40 years.

Greater London and the South East remained the most expensive parts of the country to buy a home, while Yorkshire and Humber continue to have the lowest average prices.

London has seen the biggest price growth since 1969 but its 3% annual rate reflects higher real wage rises in the capital.

Meanwhile, Scotland, which is in the middle of the regional league in terms of earnings increases, has seen the smallest price hike with an average rate of 2%.

The report also revealed the number of houses built in the UK last year was 44% less than the 281,570 built 50 years before and this lack of supply has also kept prices rising.

While house building reached a peak in the 1960s, a fall off in public sector completions has driven the subsequent decline.

Despite price increases the UK's fondness for home-ownership has gone from strength to strength - boosted by the Tory government's council house sell off in the 1980s - rising from 43% in 1961 to 68% in 2008.

This has gone hand in hand with a fall in the proportion of privately rented homes, from 33% in 1961 to 14% in 2008.

"As people in general become better off they are probably happy to spend a greater proportion of their income on housing because they have taken care of some of the more basic items," Mr Ellis said.

While there has been a big rise in property prices in the last 50 years, the report shows how inconsistent the climb can be.

It found that each period of rapid rises was followed by a significant fall in real prices, with declines in one of every three years, or 15 out of 50.

The 2000s saw the biggest jump in real prices, with an increase of 62%, and the 1980s experienced a 61% hike. But the 1990s was the worst decade and prices slumped 22%.

"In terms of the long-term, housing is going to remain generating good returns," Mr Ellis said.

He said while the property sector would have proved a more lucrative investment than stocks over the last half century he would not want to encourage people to see home ownership as purely an investment vehicle.

"First and foremost it is a place to live," he said.

The report paints a picture of a dramatically altered society.

In 1960, 14% of homes did not have an inside toilet but by 1996 this had decreased to 0.2%.

Just over a fifth of households were without a basic hot water supply in 1967 and this was down to 1% in 1991, while central heating in British homes increased from just 35% in 1971 to 92% in 2000.

Other changes also highlight the demographic shift of half a century.

The rise of single households coincides with a marked change in the type of properties built.

Semi-detached homes account for the largest proportion - 41% - of the current English housing stock built between 1945 and 1964, this has fallen to 15% post-1980.

But detached homes are even more popular, rising from just 10% of stock from the earlier period to 36% in more recent era.

The sheer number of households has also increased - by 10 million since the early 1960s - while their average size has fallen from 3.17 people in 1961 to 2.32 last year.

Meanwhile the number of married households is down by almost a fifth since the 1970s, although these are still the most common type.