Young people in Brighton and Hove face the biggest hurdle to getting on the housing ladder in the south east outside London, new figures reveal.
Shelter calculates that this year, a single person would have to save for 21 years, a couple with children for 18.6 years and a childless couple for 10 years before being able to afford a deposit.
The figures, based on average wages, house prices, rents and spending on essentials, show that young people living in the city face the largest gap between wages and house prices in the south east outside London.
Shelter’s Chief Executive, Campbell Robb, said: “Home ownership 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.
“Successive governments have announced scheme after scheme promising to help first-time buyers but these have just papered over the cracks. The only way to make sure young people have a hope of a home of their own is for politicians to roll up their sleeves and commit to building enough truly affordable homes.”
How long it takes each household to save for a deposit (in years)
| Area | Couple with Children | Couple without Children | Single |
| South East | 15.3 | 8.3 | 16.3 |
| Brighton and Hove | 18.6 | 10.2 | 21 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | 18.3 | 10.4 | 17.8 |
| Slough | 16.6 | 8.3 | 16.3 |
| Southampton | 16 | 7.3 | 14.8 |
| Buckinghamshire | 15.4 | 9.2 | 17.6 |
| Reading | 15.1 | 7.6 | 14.8 |
| West Berkshire | 14.8 | 7.6 | 14.8 |
| Portsmouth | 14.3 | 7.6 | 15.5 |
| Wokingham | 14.1 | 8.3 | 15.6 |
| Bracknell Forest | 13.7 | 7.9 | 16.3 |
| Isle of Wight | 13.6 | 7.6 | 15.1 |
| Medway | 12.9 | 6.4 | 12.3 |
| Milton Keynes | 12.1 | 6.5 | 12.8 |
The findings come as a separate Populus poll for Shelter shows that 6 in 10 parents across the country believe that young people’s prospects for getting on the housing ladder have worsened over the past few years.
For parents with children aged 16-18 the figure was more than 70 per cent.
It also revealed that more parents feel housing prospects have worsened compared with other key issues including youth employment and education.
Shelter says that successive governments’ failure to build enough affordable homes has left millions trapped in an unstable and expensive rental market where saving enough for a home of their own is now just a distant dream.
With a general election less than four months away, Shelter is calling on politicians of all parties to commit to building more affordable homes to give young people a chance of a stable future.
The housing shortage has not been caused by the governments’ failure to build houses but by mass uncontrolled immigration. The more houses we build more immigrants will fill them. The birth rate amongst our own indigenous population is falling. This shortage of housing has now left the current generation with no chance of ever owning a home and at the back of the queue where social housing is concerned.