No fewer than 86 per cent of renters – the equivalent of over six million households – have less than a quarter of the deposit needed to buy a typical first home.

The claim, by the charity Equality Trust, analyses Office for National Statistics data to reveal that the vast majority of renters cannot contemplate home ownership through a lack of income and savings.

The Trust found 86 per cent of tenants with less than the £8,838.65 needed for even a five per cent deposit to get a mortgage on a typical low cost first home.

Some 95 per cent have less than the typical £35,354.60 deposit needed for a mortgage on an average first home in the UK – indeed, the vast majority have less than a quarter of that amount.

The charity contrasts that with the wealth of the richest 100 people in the UK, which increased £15 billion last year. “That alone could pay for 71,000 average priced homes” it says. 

“Our housing crisis is well documented but it’s startling to see just how many people are priced out of owning their own home. This isn’t sustainable, and we need action from our politicians. That means reforming council tax, which hits the poorest hardest, and a substantial house building programme. Anything less threatens to lock a generation out of home ownership, and in to insecurity and punishingly high rents” says says John Hood, the charity’s acting director.