1.6m people aged 20-40 'living with parents'

House prices remain too high for many first-time buyers in their 20s and 30s

More than 1.6 million people aged 20-40 are still living with their parents because they cannot afford their own home, a report suggests.

More than 5,000 people were surveyed by YouGov for housing charity Shelter.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "These figures paint a vivid picture of 20- and 30-somethings in arrested development."

In May the Office for National Statistics said 2.9 million people aged 20-34 were living with their parents.

But some of those may have been living at home for cultural, medical or other reasons.

According to the survey of 5,379 people, 41% do not believe their children will ever be able to save up for a deposit to get on the housing ladder.

Of those living at home, 59% said it was harder to develop new relationships because of their domestic situation.

Mr Robb said the housing crisis was "putting the brakes" on young people's aspirations.

He said: "Our chronic lack of homes that young people can genuinely afford to rent or buy is at the root of the problem.

"There's no doubt that young people are grateful to be able to live with mum and dad to save money, but we have to question whether it's acceptable that this is becoming the norm for people to live at home into their mid-30s - when we know that they are desperate to be independent and make their own way in the world."

Mr Robb added: "As rents soar and deposits become even further out of reach, the government needs to look seriously at how it can meet these young people halfway, and make housing more affordable so that this generation and the next can get on in life."

The survey suggested 35% of adults had been forced to move back in with their parents while nearly a quarter said their relationship with their parents had deteriorated as a result.

Dan Montefusco, 35, from London, said: "For my parents' generation, it seemed possible to get on the housing ladder and see a steady progression in front of you: a career, a comfortable home that they could afford, a family.

"Yet I'm faced with a choice between living with my parents in my mid-30s, or paying rents I can barely afford while somehow finding a huge deposit for a mortgage.

"I've had to move back in with my parents a few times when I struggled to pay rent or find somewhere to live."