FIGURES from housing charity earlier this month revealed 4,800 – some 37 per cent - of Tendring workers aged 20 to 34 are still in the family home including Harwich and Manningtree Standard reporter Chad Nugent.

WHEN the startling figures were released by Shelter, I realised I was exactly the person it was referring to.

Despite working a full-time job I comfortably spend 40 hours a week doing, I am still living out of the bedroom I moved into when I was three.

I would like to move out - sorry Mum- and could probably afford to rent a decent enough place in the area.

The problem is everyone you talk to advises against it in favour of saving for a mortgage.

“Renting is just dead money, you need to invest in a property” they all cry, but the reality is something has got to give soon because it is getting to the point where, practically, I need to fly the nest.

Houses are an expensive business though, and with necessary outgoings like running a reliable car and housekeeping along with more unnecessary ones like new ties and gambling on golf tournaments, it is tough to save.

Even with schemes like Help To Buy offering cut-price deposits to help people like me get on the property ladder, it is still a struggle to scrape the dough together, especially with nobody to split costs with, and that’s before I work out what I would sit on in my hypothetical new pad.

The other huge elephant in the room is my student loan, which I prefer never to think about, but I know the bank manager will and could end up meaning I cannot get a mortgage anyway.