“To the extent that these schemes have stoked demand and so propped up house prices in recent years, they have served to make homeownership even less attainable for many, while increasing the gains flowing to older homeowners who have been the main beneficiaries of the sustained housing boom,” he said.

Resolution said it is concerned that the rising cost of homeownership is exacerbating a generational divide, which has seen the baby boomer generation accumulate a financial cushion, while younger workers have struggled as wages have been squeezed.

Its analysis of the Bank’s data shows that among households headed by under-45s, 28% of non-homeowners say they do not think they will ever manage to buy. Among the poorest fifth of households, the figure rises to 39%.

Ashley Seager, co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation thinktank, which campaigns for a better deal for younger households, said: “Today’s wealthy baby boomers found it easy to buy housing a generation or two ago, especially as MIRAS tax relief on mortgages was available to them. But now their children and grandchildren cannot access housing in anything like the same way.”