Getting a foothold on the property ladder is becoming increasingly difficult in areas such as Stroud. ALLI PYRAH investigates what help is available for first-time buyers.

WITH the average cost of a first time home set to rise to £300,000 over the next ten years, getting a foot on the property ladder is a daunting prospect.

Following the rise in property prices over the last 10 years, even a one-bedroom flat is now likely to set you back around £100,000.

This year, 50 per cent of first time buyers had financial help from their parents - nearly double last year's number.

Stroud resident Leandro De Gabriel, 26, is one of them.

Mr De Gabriel, a Spanish lecturer who also works part-time in The Greyhound pub, lives in rented accommodation and is just about to buy his first home.

He says he could not have done it without help from his parents.

"I am thinking of buying in October because I would pay the same each month for a mortgage as I do in rent," said Mr De Gabriel, who currently lives in Belle Vue Road, Stroud.

"I am buying it on my own but with a bit of help from my family.

"I wouldn't have been able to get the money for a deposit together on my own.

"Most of my friends aren't even thinking about buying a house because they can't afford it. It's just impossible."

According to David Hill of the Stroud & Swindon Building Society, being a first-time buyer is particularly difficult in Gloucestershire.

"Wages in the south-west aren't the highest in the country but the area is the third most expensive in terms of property prices," he said.

"The indigenous population is suffering the double whammy of relatively low wages and property prices which are inflated by people from London wanting to move into the Cotswolds."

The average salary in the south west is just £22,205, less than the national average, yet according to the Office of National Statistics, living costs in the region are 1.3 per cent above the national average.

Fortunately, banks and building societies are now beginning to recognise the problem and offer preferential rates for first time buyers.

The Stroud & Swindon, which has branches in Stroud's Russell Street and Rowcroft, has just brought out a package exclusively for first time buyers in the south west.

The building society has developed two five-year fixed rate mortgages, which allow buyers purchasing homes in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset to borrow up to 100 per cent of a property's value at 5.39 per cent interest and up to 4.3 times their salary.

There are also a number of Government schemes to help people get a foot on the property ladder.

And there is hope - because house prices have spiralled so far above what the average person can afford, analysts expect them to fall by five per cent by 2007.

Advantages to being a first time buyer: * Interest rates are at their lowest for more than 30 years * First time buyers are more appealing to sellers because they are not part of a chain * Mortgage lenders are keen to sign up first time buyers, and many, like the Stroud & Swindon, offer preferential terms and conditions * First time buyers can benefit from Government schemes designed to help get them on the property ladder. These include The Key Worker Living programme, which helps public sector employees to buy or rent a home, and shared ownership, which allows buyers to purchase a share of a property and pay rent for the remainder. For more information, visit http://www.direct.gov.uk/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/HomeBuyingSchemes/ or contact Stroud Citizen's Advice Bureau on 01453 762084.

A Nation of Borrowers: *Total mortgage debt in Britain has is now over £1 trillion, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders *Mortgage debt as a share of national income amounts to 72 per cent in the UK, compared to 26 per cent in France and 52 per cent in Germany *Total household debt in the UK has risen to nearly 150 per cent of total disposable incomes, up from less than 100 per cent 10 years ago. Mortgage debt accounts for 121 per cent of that figure First time Buyers: *As many as 50 per cent of first time home buyers this year had financial help from their parents - nearly double last year's number *Around 10 per cent used their parents as a guarantor when taking out a mortgage *17 per cent had help with repayments.