The increasing gap in the house price to earnings ratio means the average home-buyer would now need to spend almost 10 times their salary to get on the ladder in parts of Norfolk and Suffolk.

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According to the latest figures from the National Housing Federation, the average home in Norfolk and Suffolk cost £211,731 in 2014, 9.25 times the typical local salary of the same year, which was £22,296.

Those living in north Norfolk will struggle the most – with buyers earning the median salary of £20,748 having to spend 10.9 times their wages to buy a £225,272 home, the average price for the district.

In contrast, the ratio is most favourable in Ipswich, where buyers earning the median salary – £22,178 – will have to spend 7.7 times that to buy an averagely priced £169,890 home.

Like thousands of others around the region, Adam Gedge and his wife Aimee are trying to save for their first home.

The couple, who rent a terraced home in north Norwich, started saving a few years ago but are struggling to get their foot on the ladder.

Mr Gedge, 29, said: 'For us the difficulty is definitely the deposit.

'It's the saving and waiting and asking whether we can actually afford in the city.

'We seem to save enough and then something comes along like a car needs to be repaired and we're knocked back again.

'We have enough money to live and have a good quality of life, so we are lucky, but getting the deposit together is hard.'

He said the rate of house price increase was a worry for first-time buyers today.

'It makes you ask how people are doing it - a first home for someone years ago could have been about £40,000 and now you're talking £140,000. It's insane.'

While the couple had been advised not to opt for a shared ownership scheme, he said they have taken out the government's Help to Buy ISAs to help their final push to gather a deposit.

•Find out here how much homes are selling for in your part of Norfolk