Access to home ownership looks to be increasingly shutting down.

Analysis of the Bank of England’s latest annual survey of household finances has revealed it would take up to 24 years for people to save enough to get on the housing ladder.

The analysis is by the Resolution Foundation which assumed that households could save 5% of their disposable income each year.

The think tank found that 28% of non-home owners in households headed by people under 45 do not think they will ever manage to buy.

Matthew Whittaker, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation, said Britain’s chronic housing shortage was putting its reputation as a nation of home owners under threat.

He said: “It used to be that if you went out to work and did the right thing, you would expect that relatively quickly over the course of your career you would be buying a house, you’d go on holiday every year, you’d save for a pension.

“But those big ticket items have really started to change, not just for lower earners, but for middle income Britain as well.

“Supply has to be the only way forward. If people want to buy more sweets in a sweet shop, giving them more money when there’s not enough sweets in the first place doesn’t really help.”

Britain’s home ownership rate has fallen from 73% in 2007 to 65% today.