SPIRALLING house prices are continuing to make it almost impossible for nurses, teachers, police officers and firefighters to get a foot on the property ladder in Kent.

Despite signs that rocketing house prices in the South East may be levelling out, a survey shows towns in the county have some of the least affordable homes in the country for first-time buyers.

The survey, conducted by the Halifax Building Society, prompted David Miliband, the newly-appointed minister for Communities and Local Government, to defend controversial plans for a huge house-building programme in Kent.

He said: “Surveys like this make the case for our house building programme. The arguments that we are concreting over the South East simply do not hold water when there would be at most a 0.75 per cent increase in developed urban land."

But Conservative Kent County Council leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said: “Housebuilding is not happening because of a lack of funding for roads, schools and community facilities. Until this funding is available, the dream for many first-time buyers of owning a house or having a joint equity share will not happen.”

The survey compared average earnings for nurses, teachers, police officers and firefighters with the average price of houses in every major town to calculate their affordability.

It found house prices in towns in west Kent outstrip all other parts of the county. The difficulties of affording a house are marginally worse for nurses and firefighters than for teachers and police officers.

Sevenoaks emerged as the costliest town for key workers who are first-time buyers.

There, the average price of a house at £406,000 is more than 16 times the average income of a nurse earning £24,534 a year and more than 13 times the average income of a teacher.

In West Malling, the average price of a house - £306,624 - would leave a teacher needing to find twelve times their average salary to buy a house while in Tonbridge, a firefighter on an average income would need to find thirteen times their salary.

In Maidstone, the average price of a house is nine times the average income of a nurse and nearly ten times the average salary of a firefighter.

In Ashford, average house prices rose by ten per cent in 2004 to £201,289 and are more than eight times the average income of a nurse; more than six times that of a nurse and eight times that of a firefighter.

In east Kent and around some coastal towns, the situation is not as bleak. In Margate and Ramsgate, average house prices are about five times the average salary of a teacher and six times that of a nurse.

Average house prices in Kent:

Sevenoaks £406,505
West Malling £303,624
Tonbridge £300,975
Tunbridge Wells £268,613
Aylesford £233,448
Maidstone £222,558
Canterbury £214,16
Whitstable £208,173
Ashford £201,289
Rochester £188,720
Herne Bay £187,353
Dartford £185,357
Gravesend £183,476
Deal £177,066
Sittingbourne £176,815
Dover £164,094
Chatham £160,605
Folkestone £158,912
Sheerness £158,398
Gillingham £156,430
Ramsgate £155,147
Margate £152,830.

*Source: Halifax Key Worker Housing Review, May 2005. Using average house prices in 2004