For the past few years it has been almost impossible for your average young adult to get on the property ladder. More and more have resorted to renting or simply have no other choice than living with their parents due to the shear scale of house price fluctuation. A generation is literally being priced out of the market and I don’t dare even mention the worrying number of people who need a Quick Property Sale due to repossession threats.

A recent survey has concluded that 4 out of 10 people will not settle down until they can buy their own house whilst almost two thirds of those questioned said that the high house prices over the last few years are to be blamed for their inability to buy a house, with salaries no longer relative and banks no longer facilitating the ‘no deposit needed’ rule.

7% of people questioned aged between18 to 30 said that because they could not afford to buy a house, they have also put off marriage as the cost of that would delay their savings on a deposit. The survey involved 1, 096 young adults who did not own their own homes. Their living situations varied but the underlying factor was their frustration over unobtainable house prices. The government has plans to build 1 million affordable new homes by 2020 but there are fears that this won’t be successful in the time frame.

The lack of borrowing ability is bound to help prevent future people at risk of repossession but fortunately for those who are in that predicament there are companies around which will help people gain cash for property and I am certain it is those people that will see some benefits in the renting market.

A mere fifty years ago the average price of a house in Britain cost just £2,507 and one in seven of those homes had an outside toilet. Today, the average house price cost £162,085 but understandably just two in every 1, 000 homes has an outside toilet. The rate of rampant property prices have rose by 273% in real terms between 1959 and 2009, with the growth of earnings only rising 169% over the same period.

The recent decade to decade data published paints a picture of Britain being more divided today than ever before with regional house price differences. Britain has fallen further and further behind London as the rise in real time earnings have increased in Greater London at a rate matched by no other city or region, but interesting Yorkshire and Humberside hold the lowest house prices just as they did fifty years ago.

Another stark difference is the substantial changes in both the number of households and their composition. As recently as 1971, fewer than one in five households were occupied by a single person against this rising to one in three by last year. This may explain why purpose built flats now make up 19% of new builds. Whilst semi detached houses were the hallmark of the 1930 and made up 41% of all properties between 1945-1964 they fell to 15% by 1980, bungalows have also declined, whereas detached houses now make up 36% of new builds since 1980 compared to 10% between 1945 and 1964. The other obvious differences of course are that our houses are warmer, the water is hotter and the toilet is at least indoors.

Britain looks set to finally exit the recession after a long old slog and the boom in commercial and residential property prices coming to an abrupt halt with house prices down 20% year on year by January last year. 2009 was a funny year for homeowners, house prices defied expectations after falling in the first few months and then rising by the summer whilst some still continue in places. Despite this it is widely predicted by housing market analysts that the housing market recovery is not as robust as the media may suggest.

Even the most optimistic forecasts seem to suggest that prices will remain static this year as the wider economy suffers growing unemployment and public sector cuts, along with possible tax rises and economic volatility after the 2010 general election.

Still, it is not all doom and gloom. There is hope in central London where buying trends are skewed by high proportions of super wealthy purchasers not needing mortgages and the growing number of foreign buyers taking advantage of the weak pound, may contribute to seeing price rises. Similarly those areas with infrastructure improvements, like Kent, which will have fast commuter train services may start to see rises rather than falls. Only time will tell what 2010 will bring, but the only thing that is certain at the moment is that there is no certainty.