The cost of renting has jumped to a record high of £1,007 a month, according to Rightmove. And some landlords are now demanding deposits of up to six months worth of rent.
Priced out of the property market, first-time buyers are opting for cheap and cheerful alternatives to home ownership.
Narrowboats, campervans and even self-built cabins are among the wacky vessels that increasing numbers of young people are calling home.
Just one search of #tinyhome on Instagram reveals reams of colourful pictures of boats and vans - fully renovated and decked out with stylish interiors.
Priced out: Data from Savills shows that in 2019 first-time buyers were behind 51 per cent of house purchases. But by December 2020 this figure had fallen to 46 per cent
While it may seem drastic, the tiny-home movement shows how desperate young people are to escape the merciless renting cycle.
However, analysis by the Guardian has found that single buyers in their 30s on the UK median wage will still be locked out of buying a home in about half of local authority areas in England and Wales.
Although two salaries will make it easier to raise a large mortgage, those on the UK median earnings for that age group will be unable to afford to buy a home in all of London and parts of the south and east.
The analysis looked at the cheapest types of property available in each local authority area, typically a flat or terrace house, and used median prices for those and median earnings for borrowers in their 30s. Official figures put the average age of a first-time buyer at 32.
Letting agents slammed for snooping on tenants’ bank accounts
Agencies have asked to see highly sensitive financial data
Letting agents want to scour their customers bank accounts
Letting agents have been criticised for demanding customers hand over access to their entire financial history before agreeing to let properties.
Campaigners have slammed the private rental market as the “Wild West” after agents used so-called Open Banking technology to snoop on tenants transaction data. Letting agents could use referencing systems to discriminate against low income renters as regulation tightens, tenant groups have warned.
Anya Martin, of PricedOut, an affordable housing campaign group, was asked to provide her transaction history via Open Banking when she applied for a tenancy in Southwark, south London. “I felt uncomfortable and I was suspicious, but I had to do it to get the tenancy,” she said.