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Theresa May's promise to help ‘Just About Managing’ families onto the housing ladder is failing, new figures have revealed.

Britain has one of the lowest levels of home ownership for middle-income families out of all developed nations, outstripped by Spain, Greece and the United States.

Britain ranks a dismal 32nd out of 37 OECD countries.

And across all income brackets, the UK ranks just 26th.

The study found fewer than half of households earning just below the average income - around £21,000 a year in the UK - own their home.

(Image: PA)

It comes just weeks after the Government’s housing white paper was widely criticised as inadequate.

And earlier this month the Tories quietly dropped their flagship commitment to build 200,000 discount ‘starter homes’ by 2020.

Home ownership for middle-income families has been a Tory obsession since the days of Margaret Thatcher.

But since they returned to power in 2010, the number of home-owning households has dropped by 200,000.

The number of home-owning households aged under 35 has dropped by 344,000 over the same period.

Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said: “These latest figures confirm the Conservatives' seven years of failure on housing and homeownership. Under Labour a million more households became homeowners but since 2010 the number of homeowners has fallen by 200,000.

(Image: Getty)

"The Government's recent housing relaunch was less a white paper more a white flag, showing that Ministers have given up on helping young people buy a home of their own.

“Conservative Ministers may have given up on homeownership but Labour has not.

“Despite 1000 housing announcements since 2010, Ministers have failed to get to grips with our housing crisis. Labour would refocus government support on young people on ordinary incomes who need help, and build thousands more affordable homes to buy."