FRUSTRATED would-be first time buyers told today how their dreams of owning their own homes in York have been crushed by the property boom.

Some said they were having to live with their parents in the wake of raging house price inflation.

One potential buyer claimed prices had risen so high that flats in York were now more expensive than in some parts of London.

The Evening Press reported earlier this week how even basic two-bedroomed terraced properties in York's Leeman Road - classic first-time buyer territory - were now fetching up to £90,000.

Estate agents said prices, fuelled by investors buying properties to let, were still rising.

A number of readers have since contacted the paper to say they are among the victims of the boom.

Andy Parsons, 24, of Bachelor Hill, Acomb, said he and his 19-year-old partner, Nikki Birkenshaw, both worked for large companies in York and were both paid above the national minimum wage, but could not get a mortgage that even came close to York house prices.

"We have looked at renting privately, but these prices are not even viable. I recently put our names on the council waiting list but don't really expect to get very far with this, as we won't be classed as an urgent case."

He said he currently lived with his parents in a three-bedroom house containing five adults and one child.

James Hutchinson, 28, said he and his fiancee, Heather Sandland, 23, started looking for a home at the beginning of the year, but even their two incomes pooled were not now enough to get them on to the property ladder, and they were living with parents. Now he was hoping prices would start to fall back.

Stephen Reid said people had dreams they hoped to fulfil in their lives. "Buying their own home is just one of these dreams. It wasn't that long ago when this dream could easily become a reality for those who pursued it." But now the dream would never come true for a large majority of people.

Zoe Walker said she had looked at London property prices and discovered, to her amazement, that in some cases it was cheaper to buy a first-time buyers flat in somewhere like Plumstead than in York, even though wages were substantially higher in the capital.

"I saw two bed places in London for under £75,000/ £80,000. It has become virtually impossible to get anything that cheap in York. The common misconception is that although property's expensive in York, it's still cheaper to live in York than London. In my experience, this isn't always the case."

Updated: 11:29 Monday, July 01, 2002