Only three in every ten would-be first time buyers believe they ever have a hope of owning a home.

Most feel the lenders and government inaction have pulled the property ladder out from under them and that their chance to climb back on will never come, according to a survey by Property Live, a home selling portal.

The Property Live research revealed that first time buyers have to find a 25% cash deposit to even get a lender to let them through the door to talk about a mortgage – let alone make an offer.

The problem stems from two factors -

• Banks and building societies want a bigger deposit to lessen their exposure to risk from homeowners who cannot afford to repay their loans and to make sure they are not left with a property in negative equity as they market keeps falling

• The Bank of Mum and Dad, who traditionally finance a lot of first time home purchases with a gift deposit raised from remortgaging their own houses can no longer raise cash because do not have enough equity to borrow more

The research shows that 65% of would-be first-time buyers believe they will never be able to afford their own home, with the figure rising as high as 92% in some places.

Only 15% of those who do expect to eventually buy their own homes feel it will happen in the next two years.

And 5% of those questioned did not expect to be able to buy a home for five years or more.

The Nationwide Building Society index showed house prices fell by an average 0.4% in April, with the year-on-year drop standing at 15% less than last April.

Last month, mortgage lending dropped back £1 billion according to Bank of England figures, to the lowest monthly figure for many years.

Lenders are still publicising low rate headline mortgage products for first time buyers as well as other home buyers – you can easily find what is currently available by checking a mortgage comparison site like ours.

Searching our site will return the best rate first time buyer and remortgage products matched to your personal needs from across the mortgage market in seconds.

Some lenders are trying to attract first time buyers by offering mortgages with conditions – that involve tying cash tied up in a bank savings account paying a miserable rate of interest.

It could be these lenders have an ulterior motive in trying to attract savings because currently only deposit taking banks and building societies can raise any cash to lend on the wholesale money markets and by basing their borrowings on other people’s savings, they could be trying to sidestep exposure to future risks.