A "lost generation" has given up on ever owning a home as average earners would need to double their wages to keep up with house prices, new research has found.
Shortages in affordable housing have led to 4.1 million adults abandoning the dream of having the keys to their own property, with 1.8 million of these aged 25 to 44, according to a new survey.
House prices are so out of sync with wages that an average earner in some parts of England would need to make over STG100,000 ($A186,500) more a year to be able to afford a home in their area, compared to 1997, separate research discovered.
Experts warned of the "very serious social implications" of increasing numbers of adults still living in their childhood bedrooms, following a first drop in home ownership in England since records began.
And campaigners called on the government to urgently invest in new affordable housing stock, arguing that its Help to Buy scheme would only make matters worse for first-time buyers.
"When you'd need to more than double your salary just to keep up with rising house prices, it is no surprise that the dream of a home of their own is slipping further out of reach for a generation," Campbell Robb, chief executive of housing and homelessness charity Shelter, said.
"Politicians need to start meeting people half-way by committing to bold solutions that will get more affordable homes built. Otherwise future generations will find themselves priced out of a stable home, however hard they work or save.
"The reality is that successive governments have failed to build the affordable homes that this country needs and as a result our housing shortage has reached crisis point."
He said despite the fanfare surrounding Help to Buy, pumping money into mortgage guarantee schemes was not the solution.
"This further inflates prices by increasing demand for an already limited number of homes and will only make things worse for the next generation of first time buyers. The only solution is to build more affordable homes," Robb said.
A study carried out by the charity comparing average earnings and house prices between 1997 and 2012 found that average earners would need a STG29,000 pay rise to keep up with soaring house prices.
It also found that there is not a single area in England where wage and house price inflation had remained aligned over that 15-year period.
In the London borough of Hackney the average annual salary would need to increase by over STG100,000 to be in line with the "astronomical" rise in house prices as the area gentrified.
People on average wages in Watford and Brighton & Hove would need an extra STG47,000 each year to keep up with local house price inflation, and in Manchester STG34,000 extra would be required.
Although Burnley in Lancashire had the smallest gap, STG10,000 would still be needed to be added onto the average salary there to put it in line with the rise in house prices.
The Castle Trust, an equity loans and property investment provider, warned that its own research showed that over the past 30 years the average cost of a home for first time buyers had increased by 480 per cent.
The results of a poll of 2,034 people conducted by ICM on its behalf discovered that 27 per cent of adults surveyed had given up on ever getting on the property ladder, including 28 per cent of people aged 25 to 44.
The poll also found that just one in seven adults, or 14 per cent, not currently on the property ladder thought they would be able to buy a home before they are 30.
More than half of people struggling to get on the property ladder found that raising a deposit was the main problem, according to the poll.
Up to 38 per cent said they did not earn enough to own a house and a further 21 per cent believe they would not be able to keep up with mortgage payments.
One fifth said they would be unable to buy their own home because their credit rating was not good enough to qualify for a mortgage.
With such a bleak outlook, respondents said they were hoping to be able to borrow from parents, grandparents or receive an inheritance.
Sean Oldfield, chief executive officer at Castle Trust, said the failure of the young to break into the housing market had some very serious social implications.
