Epsom and Ewell is one of only five areas in England which is "completely unaffordable" for those trying to get a foot onto the housing ladder, according to a report by a leading housing charity.

In an analysis of the housing market published this summer, housing and homelessness charity Shelter ranked the borough as unaffordable for couples with children or single people on average wages - alongside such exclusive London neighbourhoods Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Islington.

The report calculated that in Epsom and Ewell, the average single person working full-time has an annual income of £27,349, meaning that, with no deposit, they could afford a mortgage of £113,399.

An average couple with children, with one partner working full-time and the other part-time, were calculated as having a combined annual income of £38,987 and, with no deposit, could afford to borrow £161,654 for a first home.

Shelter found that on one day in April there were no properties they could have afforded in the borough.

A spokesman for Epsom Council said it is trying to boost the supply of affordable housing by requiring that 40 per cent of new developments of more than 10 homes are affordable - a target the spokesman said it generally meets.

As a result, over the last six years, an average of 82 new affordable homes a year have been built, with another 360 planned for the next three years.

Epsom Residents’ Association councillor Clive Woodbridge said the borough has a "dilemma" - rising housing demand and a lack of development sites.

He said: "We do need to build more homes but that leads us to make a difficult choice. 

“Epsom and Ewell is already very densely populated and is also the borough with the most green space [in Surrey].

“If we wish to protect our greenbelt we don’t have a huge amount of land available.

“Looking to the next four years, housing will be a key issue for the council and something we will be trying to be proactive in getting the right types of homes for the right kinds of people.”

Epsom Labour councillor Sheila Carlson said Epsom is heading towards a "big housing crisis" and councillors are left frustrated by developers who refuse to provide the quota of affordable housing required by the council for new developments because they argue it would make their developments ‘financially unviable’ - an argument allowed under an amended planning law the Government introduced last year. 

She said the recent McCarthy and Stone housing development on Waterloo Road, Epsom, was one such example.

"If developers have a way of getting round it they will do all they have to do to get out of it," added Coun Carlson. 

Epsom Residents’ Association councillor Neil Dallen said market forces made the high cost of homes in Epsom an “inevitability”.

He said: “You build a home in Epsom and the market will give that home a price and this is not in the control of the council.

“We have no control over the fact that people want to pay millions of pounds for housing here.”

Simon Caird, owner of Cairds Estate Agents, in Epsom, said Shelter’s report presented an "unfair" picture of Epsom’s housing market as it is generally a destination for "second and third time movers" and first-time buyers tend to be higher-earning professionals who have more than £500,000 to spend.

Mr Caird said those who cannot afford Epsom and Ewell’s prices rent in the borough, paying an average of £800 per month, or buy their first place in more affordable areas such as Chessington and Redhill.

He added: "Epsom isn’t a low-cost housing area where people come and buy their first home in droves - never has been and never will be. 

"The report is a bit out of sync with the market here."   

But as a 24-year-old born and raised in Epsom, Labour councillor Dan Stevens said the lack of affordable housing in the borough is forcing young people in his position to go elsewhere.

He said: “I’m a local person, raised in Epsom and Ewell, have contributed to the community and yet I know that I won’t be in a position to buy here.

"Families have children who grow up and want to stay in the area but they can’t afford to buy a house here and they are taking their talents and any fresh ideas they might have for the council or help for local charities away.

“We are throwing away things because we can’t take a long-term approach for housing and that’s a real shame.  Councillors have some responsibility for changing the way the debate takes place. 

“50 per cent of Epsom and Ewell is open space and people don’t want to detriment the greenbelt, so we have to make sure the few sites we can identify have the right types of housing on there.

“There is a lack of understanding of what affordable housing is.  People think it will be people on benefits living off the state, which isn’t true at all.  It’s important to change perceptions. 

“My main concern is that we don’t have many development sites left.” 

An Epsom homeowner, in his 30s, who bought his first house in the borough four years ago, said soaring house prices mean they simply could not afford to buy their home today.

He told the Epsom Guardian: "We both have to work to pay the mortgage, and have very little left over at the end of each month.

"Though our house value has supposedly increased by 25 per cent, our wages haven’t increased at all. If we had to buy our house today, it would cost an extra £150 per month."

Epsom's MP, Chris Grayling said: “There is a genuine issue about the availability of affordable housing in the South of England.

“We need to build more houses in Epsom and make use of the development sites we’ve got, but not through development of the greenbelt.

“That’s why I have said that I believe the Gasholder Site on East Street should be used for housing rather than a supermarket. 

“But Epsom can’t be a solution to the problem in the South of England.

"The borough is densely populated and we are limited in how many houses the area can take.”

Rosebery Housing Association provides social housing in Epsom and Ewell, as well as some shared ownership homes – a scheme under which people can buy a share of their home through a mortgage and pay rent on the remaining share. 

The Association has shared ownership homes in its Noble Park and Parkview developments in Epsom.

Deborah Pike, its chief executive, said: “As the largest provider of housing in Epsom and Ewell, we have seen first-hand how the borough has some of the highest property prices in the UK.

“The affordability gap continues to widen and currently 14 times the average earnings is required to buy a home in Epsom and Ewell, as opposed to eight times nationally.

“The borough has one of the worst affordability ratios in England, which denies the vast majority of first-time buyers access to home ownership.”

Click here to view Shelter's report.

What do you think? Leave a comment below or contact Hardeep Matharu on 020 8722 6346 or email hmatharu@london.newsquest.co.uk.