Getting on the housing ladder is more and more difficult these days, wages have not kept pace, not by a long way, with the rise in house prices and for first time buyers, in many areas, the cost of buying a first property has swept well beyond reach.

So there are nowadays more and more options being explored by first time buyers in order to get that first mortgage.

Some people, who cant borrow enough to buy a suitable property have been experimenting in the buy to let market, purchasing property - often buying a flat far too small for them to live in, but letting that out and living in rented accommodation, thus at least getting on the housing ladder.

Others are saving hard, living in private rented accommodation, in the hope that they will soon have a large enough deposit to allow that elusive first purchase, but they have found that house price rises over recent years have meant that they are moving no nearer as they save.

Recent small drops in the prices of houses still have meant that in many areas the average price of a 2 bedroom flat is between 7 and 10 times the average salary. Naturally with talk of recession and a drop in house prices there will be an initial surge of optimism, This should be well dampened by the banks reaction when they, in order to protect themselves, lower the amount available to lenders.

Increasingly the first time buyer generation is looking to its elders for help. Many children are asking their equity heavy parents to release a large sum to help them get a good mortgage deal. - Over 50’s are often looking to unlock money from their pensions ( in a process known as Pension Release ) to help with deposits.

Similarly there is an increasing trend for young families to look into other options such as property sharing/ moving abroad, housing cooperatives (AKA Jenny Coyte of Brighton) and many less traditional takes on the housing matter.