Would you stay with bae to get your first foot on the housing ladder? Over half of adults under 35 need a partner to help buy their first property

%image(15196639, type="article-full", alt=""No matter what I do, all I think about is [that four bed terrace in Crouch End I saw on Rightmove]. Even when I'm with my boo, I'm going crazy over [that four bed terrace in Crouch End I saw on Rightmove]."")

Just under half of adults under 35 years old are reliant upon a partner to give them a leg up onto the housing ladder according to data from Halifax.

45 per cent of those over 18 said they were intending to make their first purchase with a partner rather than as a single buyer. Over one in 10 said that being single was a barrier to buying a first property.

However, it’s men who are the more needy of the sexes when it comes to dependency, with nearly one in five men saying not being able to buy with a loved one placed a hurdle in front of their first purchase, double the 9 per cent of women who said the same. Of the 1,500 people who took part, half of men blamed their salary for the unaffordability of achieving that lucrative first time buy, with the gender pay gap unsurprisingly fostering the same view amongst 70 per cent of women.

“Buying property in north London is so expensive, I would certainly one day look to pool my resources with a partner to afford a home,” said Heinrich Wilhelm, 22, who lives with his parents in Highgate.

%image(15196641, type="article-full", alt="Lie back and think of that two bed new build in Stoke Newington")

“I am working towards saving for a deposit on a flat, but the process would of course be easier if I could move in with someone else,” he added wistfully.

The news comes as L&C Mortgages revealed recently that 1.8 million people in Britain have stayed in a relationship purely to get on the housing ladder, with one in ten claiming they’d keep mum about their true feelings if it meant they could buy their first home.

So what should unhappy, aspiring singletons do instead of remaining with a bae they’d rather throw away?

Camden’s young lovers who choose to remain in a bad relationship could consider giving up their brunch habits, according to finder.com. The site revealed that millennials who kicked their avocado-on-toast addiction could own their own home in no less than 57 years.

Those who give up artisanal flat whites will not only become less basic, but might have enough for a home in Camden in just 657 years time, the equivalent of 246,296 coffees at £2.70 a time.

The average deposit in Camden requires £101,400 according to the data, just five times the annual average wage. With the average price of a first time buyer home in the borough standing at £665,000, it’s no wonder that Millennials are looking left, right and centre for alternatives to staying with their significant other.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax said: “It’s not difficult to see why so many young people are now waiting for a partner to take their first step onto the property ladder, as the average UK first-time buyer deposit reached a whopping £32,899 earlier this year.

“With many people trying to fund day to day living while saving for a deposit for a first home may not even be able to imagine raising this amount of cash on top of all their regular outgoings, first-time buyers in the UK are still on average £651 a year better off buying their own home compared to renting.

“Getting to grips with the property market jargon, calculating what’s affordable and understanding borrowing options available - including Government schemes - will help bring people looking to own their own home closer to the first step, no matter how far away they feel they are from reaching that first rung.”