Islington is one of the least affordable places in the UK to buy a first home.

The average price of a first time buyer property in the borough is £514,017 – 10.2 times the average annual income for people living in the area – Halifax found.

A report from the English Housing Survey published last week found an increase in age for people buying their first home from 30 to 33 over the past 20 years.

The Housing Survey also noted a hike in the number of first time buyer households that were couples – from 63pc in 1994/95 to 80pc in 2014/15. It suggested this was due to affordability issues and “an increasing need for two incomes to be able to buy”.

Stuart Shiers, director at Hotblack Desiato, said: “There are still plenty of first time buyers out there but what’s changed is the profile.

“Buying a property has become fairly elitist. It may be cheap to borrow but you’ve got to have money to be able to buy a one-bedroom flat.

“Instead of being 25-to-30 and looking for a 60 or 70pc mortgage first time buyers are now older with greater access to funds, whether that’s from family, working in the City or an inheritance.

“They could be in their mid-to-late-30s or even 40, which means they’ve been renting for a long time by the time they buy.”

Green Cllr Caroline Russell said: “Rocketing house prices affect everyone, from adult children unable to move out of their parents’ home to people paying mortgages or rents that eat up our salaries. In City Hall Greens are pushing for more rights for private tenants and many more affordable homes of all kinds to be put into the Mayor’s spending plans and new planning rules. We also want to hear evidence from anyone affected by high rents and bad landlords in our new Big Renters Survey.”