TV shows like Homes Under the Hammer have helped fuel an unhealthy "obsession" with property speculation, a Scottish Labour candidate has claimed.
Former Glasgow MP Paul Sweeney said the UK housing crisis had meant that many younger people were unable to afford mortgages and were now left working to "fund the lifestyles" of their landlords.
It comes as the average price of buying a home continues to rocket across the country despite more than a year of lockdowns and the wider economy being dented by covid.
Spring home buyers are facing the highest ever prices demanded by sellers - with the average price tag on a home having jumped by nearly £7,000 in the space of a month.
Across Britain, the increase of £6,733 or 2.1 per cent month-on-month pushed average seller asking prices to a new record high of £327,797 in April, Rightmove said.
House prices in Scotland are expected to jump by a further three per cent during 2021.
In a tweet that since gone viral, Sweeney - who is standing for Labour at next month's Holyrood election - said: "Do millennials ever stop to consider how ludicrous it is that most are paying more in rent each month than they would if they had a mortgage on the same property?
"They're working to pay off their landlord's mortgage, funding their lifestyle. All for the sake of a mortgage deposit."
He added: "The British obsession with utterly unproductive an unindustrious rent-seeking and property speculation - ingrained and conditioned by BBC shows like Homes Under The Hammer - is an economically and socially destructive culture of selfishness and private tax. A relic of feudalism."
Sweeney's observation prompted some heated debate online about the state of the property market.
Scott Walton replied: "We fully know it’s an issue, however non-home-owning millennials are massively outnumbered poll-wise by older home owners who want to see prices going up to safeguard their retirement."
Lindsey Fitzharris said: 'I cant secure a mortgage because I'm a freelancer. Despite having a 6-figure book deal, and willing to put down 25% deposit, no one will give me a mortgage.
"Millenials face real challenges when it comes to buying. It's even harder for writers, artists, etc. We think about it a lot."
But Hayley D London responded: "Paul Sweeney single handedly raising awareness of rent poverty in millennials on Twitter today, an issue of which its user base were previously blissfully unaware."
Sweeney lost his Glasgow North West seat to the SNP at the 2019 general election but is hoping to be returned to as an MSP next month.
He has previously described having to sign-on as a Universal Credit claimant during a time of lockdown.
Property prices in Scotland are expected to rise by 22.8% over the next four years, according to Savills.
