First-timers will be 40-years-old

First-time buyers may not be able to afford a foot on the property ladder in London until they are 40, a survey claims today. Soaring prices mean the cost of a deposit on an average home will rise to £74,000 by 2011.

Less than a third of the 1,000 people aged 18 to 25 who were questioned for the survey saved £164 a month - meaning they will be 40 before they can put down a deposit.

The report, commissioned by Egg bank, claims family life could be profoundly affected by the trend.

One in three couples said they would delay having children until they had bought a home, and a quarter said they would put off marriage until they had saved a deposit. Rising prices could also have an impact on quality of life, with fewer nights spent out with friends, holidays sacrificed and the channelling of all disposable income into savings for a house.

Pierre Williams, of the Housebuilders Federation, said it "makes you wonder what impact this will have on birth rates".

Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy, of the National Association of Estate Agents, added: "We might find ourselves moving to the situation in other parts of Europe, where some people rent all their lives." House prices will slow down and stabilise - but not fall - in the next three months, a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors report predicts today.

It says buyers are "reluctant to commit due to the uncertain economic climate".