AFTER many years of economic tough times, we have in recent months seen evidence of recovery, and that is accompanied by rising house prices, one of the key indicators that we are becoming more financially robust.

The flipside of that, however, is that it becomes harder and harder for people to get on to the property ladder, particularly as mortgage approvals have become tighter.

Now it emerges that the gap between earnings - which have not seen much recovery across the board - and property prices is widening yet further in Bradford.

In the current climate, buyers need to spend 4.79 times the average salary to have a hope of buying an averagely-priced home.

The danger here is that buyers will stretch themselves beyond what they can really afford in order to secure a home - and with interest rates inevitably going to rise over the coming months, that could signal a flashpoint of the sort which provoked the financial crisis of 2008.

What is needed is more affordable homes to be developed in the district. Time and time again the Telegraph & Argus has called for developers to utilise post-industrial brownfield sites to create affordable homes rather than grabbing land in the verdant green valleys and hills surrounding Bradford on which to build high-priced executive houses.

Unless wages increase to a level that the average house price is more affordable, which is unlikely in the short term, many people are going to find it impossible to buy their own home, while those who do manage might find their finances stretched to crisis point.