Tories fear housing crisis for middle-class millennials could be 'iceberg' that sinks party

The Conservative Party is concerned it could be pushed out of government in the next election after a new study found that middle-class millennials are only half as likely to get on the housing ladder as they were 20 years ago.

A new study conducted by the think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that only one in four young middle-income families owns their own homes. That number is down from two in three during the 1990s.

The report said that a growing number of young people are stuck renting due to rising housing prices. According to the IFS, housing prices have increased about seven times faster than the incomes of young adults in the last two decades.

The report comes as members of the Conservative Party worry that the Government is failing to build enough homes and losing support among millennials as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reaches through to "generation rent".

Prime Minister Theresa May has been urged by members of her party to take radical action or face being pushed out of government in the following election.

"The doubly whammy of stagnant wages and spiraling house prices has had a devastating effect on the ability of people in their 20s and 30s to buy their own home," Tory MP Nick Boles said. "This is an iceberg warning for Theresa May and the Conservative Party: if we do not take bold steps to get more houses built it will sink us at the next election."

The Government has attempted to get more people on the housing ladder, The Telegraph reported. It has pushed the Help to Buy scheme, designed to increase home ownership among "Generation Rent".

National Association of Estate Agents managing director Mark Hayward called the Government scheme a "failure" and noted that the lack of housing available has pushed millennials to pay higher rent.

"The lack of housing supply has also seen young people paying higher levels of rent which prevents them saving for a deposit. Those who can't afford family homes are choosing to rent larger houses rather than buy somewhere really pokey, and our research shows young people are now spending an average total of £50,000 on rent before they can buy," Hayward said.

Robert Halfon, former skills minister and ex-deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, urged the Government to be "hugely radical" on housing. "We should use the extra revenues raised from cuts to corporation taxes to cut taxes for housing associations so that we can build thousands of affordable homes and homes at social rents," he proposed.

Earlier in the week, the housing minister announced plans to spend £45m to help release council-owned land to support the construction of up to 7,280 homes. Dominic Raab said the money was part of the Government's plan to make buying or renting more affordable for young families and low and middle income individuals.