Lack of housing awareness hits the young

But with greatest pressure on first-time buyers this age group are among the most important targets for more accessible housing options such as part-rent part-buy schemes.

The study by social housing marketing specialists Cadence Market Strategy shows that just four in ten adults under 24 (39%) understand shared ownership, or part buy part rent, compared to more than six in ten older people (62%)2 .

"Understandably the spend on promoting social housing has seen budgets tighten during the recession. This means that for the past three years, many young people - who are key targets for part-buy, part-rent - haven't been receiving strong messages often enough," Cadence's Neil Fullbrook explained.

"This is a very important illustration of the impact of marketing, particularly when you link it to other areas of an organisation such as sales," he continued. "Plans need to be made now to catch up in terms of awareness and market share for when the housing market starts to pick up, not after it has."