Parents in west London fear their children will be priced out of the areas they grew up in due to rising rents.

Average rents in Ealing rose by 22 per cent from £259 per week in September 2011 to £316 per week in September 2013, according to analysis of the Valuation Office Private Rental Market Statistics by the National Housing Federation, released a week ago (September 17).

In Hounslow , they rose 20.9 per cent from £260 per week to £314 per week.

But average rents in other areas have dropped over the same period. In Westminster they are down from £560 a week to £524, and in Kensington and Chelsea they are down from £688 to £605, although the two areas remained the most expensive places to rent in England.

According to figures from a new YouGov poll for the National Housing Federation 72 per cent of English parents are worried about rising rent levels and 81 per cent about rising house prices and the impact of both on the next generation.

Also, more than two thirds of parents fear children will not be able to afford a home in the future without their financial support.

A spokeswoman from Ealing Mums in Business said: “It’s difficult to predict so far ahead as we know that housing prices generally run in cycles of ups and slow-downs.

“I feel there are too many assumptions that our children will want to live where they have grown up. I have no doubt, lots will literally fly the nest and the area’s they were raised in.”

Katie Teasdale, external affairs manager at the National Housing Federation, said: “Parents should look forward to a bright and prosperous future for their children but are worried they will end up being worse off than them.

“Are we really okay with the idea of some of our towns and cities being priced beyond the pay packets of young people. How will our communities survive if young people can’t afford to live there?

“It’s taken a generation to create this broken housing market and will take us a generation to get out of it. We’re calling on the political parties to commit to end the housing crisis within a generation to ensure the situation doesn’t continue to worsen leaving our children to deal with the consequences.

“We want the next government to publish a long-term plan within a year of taking office that sets out how they will achieve this.”