Families are being priced out of the Help to Buy scheme in London as a quarter of boroughs in London have no new-build houses below the £600,000 threshold, research claims.

Analysis of Rightmove listings at the end of November by London agent James Pendleton found that not a single new-build  house with two bedrooms or more priced below the £600,000 threshold for the Help to Buy equity loan scheme was for sale in Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets and Westminster.

In Barking, Lewisham and Southwark there are just three houses for sale in each borough below the threshold, while there are four each in Greenwich and Wandsworth.

There were just 603 new-build houses for sale London-wide, with Croydon boasting the most at 59 followed by 57 in Richmond upon Thames.

Across the entire capital, there were 13,156 new-build houses for sale above the £600,000 threshold, highlighting the severe shortage of appropriate properties being built for families in London.

The research didn’t count how many new-build flats were available for below £600,000, but said houses make up just 2.7% of London’s new-build property stock. The agent did point out, though, that a growing family may prefer a house to a flat.

Lucy Pendleton, director of James Pendleton, said: “We know that house prices are over-inflated in parts of the capital, but this research really highlights the scale of London’s property crisis for families.

“This research shows that, for those among them who need a leg up, a quarter of the capital is off limits.”

With houses making up such a small proportion of London’s new-build property stock below the Help to Buy threshold, the reality is that families will be forced to stay in cramped and uncomfortable accommodation.

“This is a hammer blow for a key demographic who desperately need the room and outside space a house can provide but have to fight tooth and nail to secure a property in the right area, if any are available at all.

“Mass extinction of Help to Buy houses has begun, exacerbated by the upper threshold which hasn’t moved in four years, and contagion across the rest of London is inevitable.”