The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has reported that in London, just one in three young adults are able to afford a home, compared to 90% in 1990.

According to the IFS, house prices have jumped 173% since 1997, while adults pay had gone up by just 19%. London and the southeast saw the greatest increase in house prices during that period.

Polly Simpson, a research economist at the IFS and a co-author of the research, said: “Many young adults cannot borrow enough to buy a cheap home in their area, let alone an average-priced one.”

Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said: “This report adds to the mounting evidence of a housing crisis that Tory Ministers are failing to fix.”

The IFS argues that easing planning restrictions would increase home ownership and reduce both property prices and rents.

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) wholeheartedly agrees that easing planning restrictions would increase home ownership and considers the benefits of reformed planning to be instant.

Planning remains the greatest growth barrier for small and medium-sized (SME) house builders and its impacts are felt across the entire housing supply chain, from housing associations and community land trusts to self-builders and constructors, the NFB said.