A combination of rising house prices and the recession has crushed the prospect of many young people getting onto the property ladder for the foreseeable future.

For those already living at home it is inevitable that they will stay for a longer period of time putting the burden on their parents to support them whilst they save their earnings for a deposit. This is substantiated by a survey released by housing charity Shelter this week who reports more than one in five young people are still living with their parents and around 22% of 18 – 34 year olds still live in the family home with 45% claiming they do so because they cannot afford to move out due to high costs.

Housing Minister John Healey told GMTV “the credit crunch had exacerbated the problem of many young people being unable to afford to move out of the family home. It's very tough and it's been made worse by recession. The level of house building has gone down so there are fewer houses around and people can find it much more difficult to afford homes. And, of course, people being able to borrow from lenders has also been hit by recession. In the end, I think we simply have to build more homes in Britain, in every part of the country. That is (homes) for sale through the housing market, for renting through councils and housing associations and for the private rental sector as well."

A Communities and Local Government spokeswoman recently said: "The Government continues to demonstrate a long-term commitment to affordable housing, which is why since June housing minister John Healey has approved more than £2.4 billion towards 41,000 new affordable homes.

"This includes the largest council house-building programme for nearly two decades and funding for housing associations to build more homes for affordable sale or rent. Thousands of first-time buyers have also managed to get a foothold on the property ladder thanks to our Homebuy schemes."

If you are looking for affordable housing, go to www.smartshare.co.uk - the UK’s number one website for affordable housing.