By Sarah Knapton: The middle classes will die out within 30 years because of rising property prices, which will rob today's children of their dreams, an economist has warned.
David Boyle, a government adviser and fellow of the New Economics Foundation think tank, said that youngsters can no longer expect the same level of affluence as their parents.
Speaking at the Hay Festival he warned that Britain will be left with a "tiny elite and a huge sprawling proletariat" who have no chance of "clawing their way out of a hand-to-mouth existence".
He predicted that the average house price will reach £1.2 million by 2045, putting a home beyond the range of most people as wages fail to keep up with huge increases.
Mr Boyle said that the traditional middle classes will need three or four jobs just to be able to pay soaring rents. People will no longer have the space or time to pursue cultural interested.
And he blamed bankers bonuses for artificially inflating the property market.
“The really scary thing is if in the next 30 years house prices rise as much as they have done in the last 30 years then the average house in Britain will cost £1.2 million,” he said.
“We cheered the rise of property prices not realising that it would destroy, if not our own lives, but the lives of our children.