Living the British Dream, dozens of TV shows testify, has always meant owning your own home.

Up until now, today, if you're a millennial in a city, a dream is quite possibly what it will remain.

It's incredibly difficult to save when you're spending so much of your income on rent and bills.

And things aren't getting any better.

Price is on my street. The average offer price has gone up 234% in the last year.

You're listening to stories of our times and the times and the Sunday times. I'm David Aronovich.

Today, millennials, why can't they afford their own homes?

Everyone assumes it's very glamorous. It certainly has its glamorous moments.

That's Charlie Gaon's England. My first couple of years of it were mostly spent sitting

on the floor in a fashion cupboard, packing up clothes, didn't have a desk, wasn't getting paid

very much money. But you had your own cupboard? Yeah, I had my own cupboard, yeah, and I did at one

point have a desk inside a cupboard. No natural light, but a seat, which was a step up.

Charlie is the acting fashion editor at the times and is amusing me with stories about making her

way in the world of fashion journalism. Everyone imagines the Devil Wears Prada when you say

fashion cupboard. But one of my fellow assistants actually caught in Patigay from the dirty carpets

in a fashion cupboard. But today's story is not about overworked young journalists getting bacterial

infections. What is that some other time? Today, we're worrying about the property market.

And about how hard it is for many young adults to buy their own home with property prices continuing

to rise and rise despite the pandemic. Recently, Charlie wrote an article in The Times,

headlined Millennial, saving for a house you might need an inheritance.

Charlie's musings caused a bit of a stir.

I think the reaction from older generations is that we're criticising them,

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