In North Devon, Edmund Greaves and his partner are struggling to find their first home. In the area where they are looking, which spans 20 sq miles and two sizeable towns, just one or two properties in their price range hit the market each week. They are gone within days.
In Hackney, east London, houses are listed so rarely that one woman estimates she has leafleted more than 300 desirable properties, hoping to coax their owners into a sale.
In Cambridgeshire, Edward Clarke and his young family have spent two years shuttling between rental homes and are despairing as runaway price growth and high demand force them to rip up their original plans and look further and further afield.