Owning your own home is an Irish rite of passage but people are becoming increasingly older before getting a foot on the ladder, new data has shown.

A survey released by AA Life Insurance found more than half of those wishing to enter the property market had not managed to do so before the age of 35, a significant shift from previous generations.

Conversely, 83 per cent of those over the age of 55 had secured the keys to their first home by the time they were 36.

If the demographics are shifting, so is the mood - 15 per cent of those surveyed between the ages of 25 and 35 said they doubted they would ever buy their own property.

"Home ownership may feel as if it is a long way away for younger Irish people," said Conor Faughnan, AA director of consumer affairs.

“Property prices and deposit requirements make it a much more difficult proposition for the Millennial generation than it was for those who came before them. It seems as if the deck is stacked against them.”

The rate of young buyers is slowing - today, just 37 per cent of those between the age of 17 and 35 have found their own abode.

It also found 25 per cent of over-55s owned their own home by the age of 24, compared to 7 per cent of those between 17 and 24 in 2016.

The survey of almost 11,000 people also found shifting attitudes across the generation gap. Nearly a third of those over the age of 55 “strongly agreed” the idea of owning a home was a “lifestyle choice”, just over 19 per cent of those under 25 had the same opinion.

Where many were despondent about their chances, more than 87 per cent of those between 17 and 35 agreed that owning a home was a personal milestone. Just over 2 per cent said they had no desire to.

Moving out of the parents’ home is also taking longer for today’s 17 to 24-year-olds than in any previous generation. While at least 65 per cent of respondents in all other age brackets had moved out by the age of 24, just 36 per cent of those currently under-24 have managed to fly the nest.