The rate of building of two-up, two-down houses has halved in the last 20 years, according to Project Etopia.

The modular home developer said that the lack of these ideal starter houses makes it difficult for young families to get on or move up the property ladder in some areas.

It found that only 9% of all new private properties completed in 2017/18 were two-bedroom houses, down from 17% two decades ago.

Since the data was first collected, two-bedroom houses peaked at 23% of all new build homes in 1992/93 and 1993/94 and they have not risen above 10% since 2012/13.

Desperately seeking two-beds

Further analysis of new-build houses on the market with online portal Zoopla shows that two-bedroom homes make up just 2% to 3% of the houses on the market in some areas.

In Durham, Cambridge, Stafford, Nottingham, Crawley and Birmingham, more than 97% of new-build houses for sale have three or more bedrooms.

In Blackburn, Bolton, Darlington, Gateshead and Gosport there are no new-build two-bedroom houses for sale at all.

Joseph Daniels, CEO of Project Etopia, said: “The two-up, two-down was once thought of as the typical first house for aspiring home owners, giving people a step onto the ladder where they have space to start building a family.

“But couples are inevitably finding it increasingly difficult to buy smaller two-bedroom homes because developers have simply stopped building enough of them.

“Decades of inadequate home building has already left hundreds of thousands of people unable to afford to buy a place of their own. Developers need to remember they’re building for people, not just profit.”