There are now only 29 (yes, twenty-nine) homes in London deemed 'affordable' for first-time buyers

Update: We ran the same test on Wednesday morning and found just 29 properties (yes, twenty-nine) below the "affordability threshold" (£144,706) across London - including four houseboats, and two "park homes".

In what must be sign 1,057 that London's property market has gone beyond the pale, new research shows that just 43 (yes, forty-three) homes in the capital can be deemed "affordable" for the typical family buying for the first time.

Housing charity Shelter undertook research using properties listed on Zoopla in March and found that of those 43 deemed "affordable" in London, some were houseboats and one was a mobile home.

That charity found that only 0.1 per cent of homes with two or more bedrooms in London, and just 5 per cent across the rest of the country, fall into what they describe as an "affordability threshold".

This threshold was calculated using average income figures for each local area as well as an estimate of what size mortgage each family (a couple in their 20s and one child) could take out based on that income.

They found that the north-east of the country had the highest percentage of affordable homes (42.2 per cent), while London (0.1 per cent) and the south-east (3.9 per cent) had the lowest.

As the Guardian points out, home ownership in England has dropped to its lowest level in three decades - with only 63 per cent of residential properties being deemed "owner-occupied".

For the next government, whoever that may be, it’s time for the talk to stop and the work to begin. Politicians need to act swiftly to deliver the plan that will build the 250,000 homes we need.

• Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter

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