Problems faced by many of you first-time property buyers are compounded by the iincreasingly limited supply of homes! (tell us something we don't know we hear you say)

A report by property experts Hometrack said that 1 bedroom dwellings make up only 3% of the housing available in England and Wales! (i.e. 800,000 properties).

The report says that two-thirds of housing is "family" homes of 3 or more bedrooms with 3 bedroom properties accounting for just under 50% of what is available. It says that though the plight of first-time buyers is already well known, the debate is based on the assumption that there is a ready supply of property making up the "first rung" of the housing ladder.

In fact, only 10% of new-build homes last year were one-bedroom properties.

Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research said "The lack of smaller-sized homes, combined with strong demand from investors and first-time buyers, has led to a constant upward pressure on prices at the bottom end of the ladder. This in turn has led to the value of 1 and 2 bed homes being compressed up towards the price of 3 bed properties."

The research shows the differential between the average 3 bed property at £194,000 and the typical 1 bed property at £141,000 is small compared with the early 1990s, when first-time buyers were often able to skip the first rungs of the ladder.

In most areas of Britain first-time buyers now face house prices that may be more than 8 times their salary.

A report last week from the newly launched National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) predicted that the lack of affordable homes would drive house prices up to 10 times peoples salaries in the next 20 years.

The government is trying to speed up the planning process to get more houses built but the numbers remain well below what experts believe are essential to keep pace with household growth.

This imbalance in supply, says Hometrack, is not just a problem for those looking to get on to the property ladder but also for those looking to trade down.

So if you have been finding it hard to set foot on the property ladder, it's not a surprise...its because the first rung is missing!