The difficulty of getting a first foothold on the housing ladder has left Anna Sandall, a trainee clinical psychologist, renting for the past two years.

Ms Sandall, 25, left home two years ago and has been renting in Balham, southwest London, in a shared house with her boyfriend Simon, also 25, an engineer. She earns £26,000 a year and together the couple could afford a one-bedroom flat costing a maximum of £250,000. The average price paid by a first-time buyer in London is £288,615.

“There is no way I can afford to buy on my own, so this summer we started looking for a place together,” Ms Sandall said. “We soon realised it was going to take us longer than we thought. After looking in estate agents’ windows we decided it wasn’t worth even going to look at any flats because they were all too expensive.”

Ms Sandall said that she was deterred not only by the unaffordably high prices but also by the fear of trying to buy at the top of the market.

“It just feels like the worst time to be looking to buy. The market is too unstable, so we prefer to wait for a bit and see if prices and interest rates drop next year. We hope that they will, and perhaps within 12 months we will have the opportunity to try to move.

“I have looked in loads of estate agents’ windows, explored different areas to see what prices are like and searched online, with no luck,” Ms Sandell said. “I suppose I have to accept the situation because I’ve made my choice – I don’t have to live in London.”

Ms Sandall said that some friends and colleagues had opted to buy through the Government’s shared-ownership scheme. The plan, which is available only to key workers such as teachers and NHS staff, allows them to purchase a percentage of a property and rent the rest from the Government, with the option of increasing the share over time and eventually taking on the full mortgage.

“I’ve looked at shared ownership but I’d rather do this on my own without government help,” she said. “I don’t know anyone my age who’s been able to buy without help from their parents, even if they have really well-paid jobs.”

Where once parents would have been free of any financial burden once their children finished university, now they are expected to contribute thousands of pounds to help their offspring to buy their first home.