Renters and home-buyers are worried the rising cost of housing in London will price the first-time owners and the low-paid out of the market.

The cost of renting or buying a home in the capital has risen 6.6 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively in the last year, adding to money woes brought on by austerity and the financial crisis.

In some south-west London boroughs the average cost of buying a house has risen more than 9 per cent.

According to letting agent Your Move, the average house price in London has jumped from £564,755 to £581,219 in the last year, an increase of more than £16,000.

Since August last year the cost of buying a house in Croydon has risen 9.6 per cent, and by 9.7 per cent in Sutton.

Merton saw a rise of 1.5 per cent, and Richmond a 0.9 per cent increase. Prices have dropped 0.3 per cent in Wandsworth and 1.9 per cent in Kingston.

Rental prices were equally as tough, letting insurance company HomeLet said.

The average London rent was £1,555 in the three months to September this year, compared to £1,459 in the same period a eyar ago.

However, the latest figure is a drop of 0.2 per cent from the three months leading to August this year.

It comes as the Office of National Statistics revealed there were about 6m workers across the UK being paid less than the living wage in 2014.

We asked shoppers in Sutton High Street what they thought of the figures.

Cheam resident Ayshe Boniface said: "It is the children I think about to be honest.

"We purchased our place for £150,000 20 years ago and now we are thinking of moving, and had it valued at over £700,000.

"If we were moving now we couldn’t afford to come here.

"I have a 16-year-old and I think that when he is at the stage of moving out he will probably have to move out of the area."

Epsom resident Kim Peyton-Dawe said the rise in property prices would mean people wouldn’t be able to live in the areas they wanted.

She added: "The place you can afford is the place you can afford, but you want better for yourself and you’re going to be outdone all the time.

"I used to have my own property and it was due to my husband being ill at the time and not being able to work that we had to sell the house and bring up three children renting all the time.

"It's like you were on the property ladder once and due to unforeseen circumstances you get chucked off it, and then you find you're renting."

Daughter Rebekah Peyton, who still lives at home, said: "My job is low paid anyway so I wouldn’t be able to afford anything nice, I have my car to run as well so that takes most of my money."

Martin Rich, of Ewell Court, said: "There is a lot of development going on in Sutton so it is a good place to be, but could a young person afford it? I don’t know.

"The market is difficult for people getting on it the first time, but even if you’re on it, where would you move to?

"You move as a retirement thing and move away, otherwise you just have to sit on your property."

Kingston resident Alberto Carpentier said: "I don’t think you can stop the rises, across the board nationally it must be hard for first-time buyers.”