WHEN I was a child there were no property programmes on TV.

Families didn't sit at home every night watching other families carry out loft conversions or install new kitchens.

Neither were magazines bursting at the seams with articles about how people have achieved their dream home on a tight budget.

The closest thing to that were the swanky property for sale pages in Country Life, which have always been way beyond the finances of most people.

Now people are obsessed with property from their late teens onwards. Getting a foot on the ladder is the ultimate aim of many young people, and they seem to be prepared to put every single penny they earn towards a deposit.

Then they forfeit just about everything, including food, to stump up the £2,000 monthly mortgage payments.

I despair when I see young couples on TV, who should be out there having fun and enjoying their youth, eyeing up properties – many in which you'd struggle to swing a mouse let alone a cat – costing six figure sums.

When I was that age the idea of owning a house didn't enter my head. Talk surrounding mortgages, stamp duty and interest rates would never have passed the lips of me and my friends.

We were perfectly happy to rent run-down houses and spend our money on nights out. If at the time someone had suggested we stay in to watch a TV programme about someone tarting up a bungalow to make a fast buck, we'd have laughed.

I realise that my generation was lucky – rents were cheap and when it came to buying a home, it was easily affordable even on low salaries.

But that begs the questions – why weren't we obsessed with bricks and mortar? Why weren't we eager to snap up a period terrace or two, as you probably could in those days?

I blame the media. All we hear about is how vital it is to own a property, as if, without one, your life won't amount to much.

People are brainwashed into believing that buying a house will lead to a fat profit. Let's face it, they're the only stories Sarah Beeny & Co feature on their feelgood programmes.

It never ends with someone wailing, head-in-hands, heavily in debt, having to do four jobs to keep the bailiffs away.

Things are going to get worse. It is estimated that a child aged six today will have to pay £800,000 for their first home.

Unless earnings sky rocket, there's no way they are going to be able to afford it.

Forget about owning property, that's my advice to anyone under 30.

Rent a house with friends and spend a few years enjoying yourself. Then pop to Go Outdoors – they've got a great selection of tents.