LONDON: First-time buyers have to save almost half their monthly wage for five years if they want to get a foot on the housing ladder, a report published by the Home Builders' Federation showed today.

The Broken Ladder report, showed first-time buyers in their 20s would have to save 45% of their monthly net income over five years to afford the £37 000 deposit needed to buy an average starter home.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders' Federation, said: "These figures reveal the extent of our housing crisis, first-time buyers – the life-blood of the housing market – are almost entirely shut out."

House builders have offered incentives, such as shared equity schemes, since the recession to help first-time buyers, but the scrapping of the Government's HomeBuy Direct scheme at the end of September dealt a further blow to the market.