Young people are struggling to get their foot on the property ladder as a new report reveals buyers in Kent have to cough up an average of £7,295 in stamp duty when purchasing a home.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research also found the average property price in the county is £345,900 - meaning a buyer would also have to stump up almost £70,000 for a 20% deposit on a mortgage.

It's led one housing expert to say "millennials are being penalised".

Scroll down for audio

Meanwhile older people are living in bigger homes for longer.

Data has also revealed 15,792 properties are up for sale in Kent, which is a decrease of 20% since January 2007.

Managing director at the Medway-based Dockside Property Services, Spencer Fortag, said: "I think there's a number of factors at play here and while it's true stamp duty might be contributing to a slight stagnation in the market it isn't the whole story.

"It penalises people who are trying to buy property, especially first time buyers.

"Something else to think about is we've had this additional 3% stamp duty cost for people who want to buy an additional property to rent out.

"Millennials are being penalised in the rental and sales market.

"It's a free market so the average house prices are dictated by demand. If we look at the average house prices and earnings ratio in Medway it hasn't gone up massively."

Offering a solution to the problem, he suggested the government needs to allow more house building.

"I think what the government have to get to grips with is understanding we're not building enough affordable housing and some millennials are actually happy to rent," he added.

The report also reveals it takes an average of 118 days to sell a property in Kent - an increase of 44% in 10 years.

Talking about the number of days people have to wait before their house is sold, Mr Fortag said: "We've had cases where some of our houses have sold very quickly, so I can only imagine the report talks about the time it takes for the sales process to go through.

"If that's the case the property market does need to be looked at."

Across the UK the study has found 25 to 34 year olds own the least while people aged 55 and over now have 63% of UK residential properties, up from 56% in 2006.

On average each person in the UK over 55 has a property wealth of £161,000 where as the value falls to £3,000 for those aged between 25 and 34-years-old.