A NEW report has warned the countryside could become the exclusive domain of the rich if house prices continue to rise.

The latest State of the Countryside report, issued by the Countryside Agency, highlights a lack of affordable homes in rural areas.

Countryside Agency chairman Ewen Cameron said: "What gives me most cause for concern is the cost of housing."

He said figures showed that 57pc of rural people would have to commit more than half their income to mortgage costs, nearly double the number of urban residents.

He added: "This is a major hurdle for new households and those on less than average wages.

"Taken alongside the much lower availability of rural social housing, the countryside could become the preserve of the wealthy, threatening the whole nature of rural communities and viability of services."

For the first time the Countryside Agency has produced a "mortgage index" which shows that in seven out of eight regions, including the North-East and North Yorkshire, rural homes are much less affordable than in urban areas.

In the North-East and North Yorkshire, people are spending 40pc of their income on housing in rural areas.

David Gluck, senior countryside officer for the Countryside Agency in Yorkshire, said: "The key problem is that housing stock is being bought up by people who can pay a high price for it, coupled with the fact that there is not a significant amount being built.

"Many young people who would perhaps have stayed in their communities are being forced out of their villages."

Rural homes are also being snapped up by people wanting second homes and others who buy holiday homes to rent out.

It has driven prices up so much that the average price for a three-bedroom house in the Yorkshire Dales National Park is now estimated at £150,000.

Other issues facing rural residents across the country included 5pc of post offices closing in 2000/1 and rural wages being 12pc lower than urban wages.

However, education levels were better, with NVQ Level 3 and Key Stage 2 scores slightly higher than in urban areas.

Rural crime rates start lower and are falling at the same rate as in urban areas. But cases of violence in urban areas have almost halved since 1995, whereas in rural areas the fall is only one tenth.