It's never been harder to buy a house, raise kids and have a successful career.

That's the inescapable conclusion to draw from new research by estate agents Jackson-Stops, who have just published a report showing how the costs of buying a house and looking after children has soared upwards far faster than wages.

'The data is stark,' they say. 'Average house prices have risen 61.7% since 2014, whilst wage growth has stagnated across the decade at just 10.7%.'

And it's not just house prices rising: nursery fees have ballooned as well, 'with average monthly nursery fees for children under-two increasing by 70% since 2018'. Combine that, say Jackson-Stops, with a healthy birth rate, nurseries struggling to make ends meet amid National Insurance rises, and a 35% drop in the number of registe

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