FTBs need up to 26 years to save deposit

Outside of the South East, families face a 13-year wait in the East, 11 years in the West Midlands, and around a decade in the North West.

Nationwide, the average wait for a young couple with a child is around 12 years before they could afford to buy a home locally.

Couples without children face nearly 7 years of saving, leaving many to choose between getting on the property ladder and starting a family. Single people face the greatest barrier, with a wait of more than 13 years until they can afford to buy.

A separate poll for Shelter found that 6 in 10 parents believe that young people’s prospects for getting on the housing ladder have worsened over the last few years. For parents with children aged 16-18 the figurerose to over 70%. It also revealed that more parents feel housing prospects have worsened compared with other key issues including youth employment and education.

Shelter says that a lack of affordable homes has left millions trapped in "an unstable and expensive rental market", where saving enough for a home of their own is increasingly difficult.

Shelter’s Chief Executive, Campbell Robb, said:

“Homeownership used to be within most people’s reach, but the rising shortage of affordable homes has pushed house prices up so high that for millions of young people it’s now just a fantasy, however how hard they work or save.

“Parents are right to be worried. The reality is that unless we get a grip on the housing shortage soon, children today could spend decades paying out dead money in expensive rents, or living at home well into adulthood with little hope of planning for their own families."