Half of private tenants in England who want to buy a home cannot save any money towards a deposit, new research from Shelter claims today.

The YouGov poll of 3,800 private tenants shows that 48% – which Shelter claims is the equivalent of 3.2m people – are unable to save a penny toward a deposit because of high rents.

A further 25% can only save £100 or less a month.

Previous analysis by Shelter found that the average deposit size for one of the government’s new Starter Homes will be £40,000, highlighting how unaffordable current solutions are for anyone on an ordinary income.

The charity is calling on the Government to address the root cause of the housing shortage by investing in genuinely affordable homes.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: “When the average deposit for a so-called ‘affordable’ Starter Home is £40k and half of renters can’t save a penny towards this each month, ‘generation rent’ aren’t going to become ‘generation buy’ any time soon.

“Behind these figures are millions of young people and families on ordinary incomes who are struggling to cope with sky high housing costs and the instability of private renting.

“George Osborne needs to start paying attention to all those bearing the brunt of our housing crisis, by investing in building homes they can actually afford to rent or buy.”