Consequently, many are still living with their parents long into their late twenties and early thirties.  The problem is only exacerbated by the very low number of affordable houses being built at the moment, which means the solution isn’t on the horizon, at least through traditional means. 

However, a Sheffield-based social enterprise called REACH devised a new way to help people purchase their first property at a reasonable price. They achieve this by building low-cost homes from old shipping containers. Prices for their one bedroom homes are expected to start from around only £35,000 - a fraction of a price of a brick-and-mortar home. The project recently made it to the semi-final of the national Virgin Media Business VOOM 2016 pitch competition and was featured on the ITV news, so it appears to be gaining steam.

Commenting on his idea to make homes from shipping containers, REACH’s founder Jon Johnson said to an ITV news reporter: "They're very easy to work with, they don't need foundations. There are a lot of advantages over traditional building methods, not least the cost. The envelope of this [one-bedroom converted house] costs about £1,000 to £1,200."