As many as a quarter of a million renters are unable to purchase their first home since the introduction of the Help to Buy scheme.

This is according to PricedOut – a campaign group that fights for affordable housing – who branded the initiative as an “utter travesty”, according to the Guardian. 

Its comments come as the government’s policy is being accused of creating a housing bubble, meaning as many as 245,000 people cannot afford to get onto the property ladder. 

PricedOut used recent data from the Office of National Statistics to predict that 3.48 million renters were now unable to afford to buy their first property. This equates to two-thirds of private tenants.

House prices are also expected to rise by as much as eight per cent in 2014, according to experts.

PricedOut spokesman Dan Wilson Craw said: “The government reckons it has a policy that will help me and other young adults, but it is managing to achieve the exact opposite.”

He added urgent action was essential to reduce house prices and allow incomes to catch up.