No longer able to afford to buy a property in their home town, young first-time buyers are showing their entrepreneurial grit and thinking about buying properties in foreign holiday destinations such as Spain.

According to a survey today, this "jet-to-let" generation is likely to shell out an average of £101,000 for an overseas property, compared with the average cost in Britain of £160,000.

The difficulties first-time buyers in Britain run up against when trying to find homes where they want to live were highlighted this weekend when the Halifax bank found prices were prohibitively high in nine out of 10 towns.

The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, is today setting out a plan to try to address the situation by promising thousands of inexpensive starter homes and allowing a limited right to buy for around 300,000 people living in housing associations.

As it is, Halifax, the country's biggest mortgage lender, calculates that would-be home owners needed to find £131,024 for their first property in 2004, up 16% on last year. As a result, the number of first-time buyers fell to its lowest level since 1981 last year.

If the new survey by Oceanico Development is correct, they are now looking abroad after being squeezed out of the UK by high property prices.

The Portuguese property developer, which conducted its survey through pollsters YouGov, found that close to half of 18- to 29-year-olds were planning to buy a property abroad compared with a third of the over-50s, the age group more usually associated with homes in the sun.

Two-thirds of the young property investors expected their foreign purchase to be their first foothold on the property ladder, according to the survey which was conducted first in November and again in December with a nationally representative sample of adults over 18.

Simon Burgess, Oceanico Developments director, said: "As property prices in the UK remain prohibitively high and the rental market approaches saturation, it's only natural that investors turn to foreign shores to make their pound travel further.

"With lower property prices, healthy capital appreciation rates and strong lettings markets, it's no wonder jet-to-let is emerging as the new property investment trend. And the benefits are twofold - not only are you buying a place in the sun, but by letting it out investors are also generating income to cover their mortgage costs," Mr Burgess said.