A survey carried out by UK mortgage lenders has revealed more and more tortoises in the 75-100 year age bracket are still living at home with parents.
The problem looks set to increase as these younger tortoises find it increasingly difficult to get a foothold on the property ladder.
Lenders say the problem lies with the tortoise themselves with too many not able to pay off the interest quickly enough and ending up in negative equity.
The problem is particularly difficult for those living along the M4 corridor.
‘There’s nothing for first time buyers around here’ said Terrence Testudine, a postman from Thatcham in Berkshire. ‘I can’t afford anything in the burrow where I was born... its all buy to let and second domes these days.
We made enquiries about a house the other day but the builder said ‘it’s not complete yet, it's nothing more than a shell’ - we said 'sounds perfect, we'll take it' but they didn’t want to know.
It makes it difficult to put down roots.
My dad’s talking about converting his loft space for us instead’.
However, there was more encouraging news from local estate agents Bradley, Soames and Wiggins as they watched one lucky couple moving in to their new home
‘No question the credit crunch has really hit the tortoise community hard, but it’s not all bad news’ said Josh Timms ‘although if that crunch was anything to go by I fear the removal van may well have just turned their dream home into an open plan flat.
Probably been done before but surely not this badly?