First-time buyers are having to pay a record price of almost £200,000 to realise their dream of home ownership, according to the property website Rightmove.

The average cost of a two-bedroom home is now more than £193,000, far above what most young people can afford without help from their parents, dubbed the Bank of Mum and Dad. The property website’s monthly house price index, to be published tomorrow, blames a lack of suitable properties on the market for the record prices.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: “First-time buyer activity has remained strong, buoyed by cheap interest rates and the high costs of renting.”

Nearly a quarter of first-time buyers within the past five years said a family member provided more than