IT is a well-worn tale: two people meet, fall in love and then buy their first home together.

For Oxford's 20 (and 30) somethings, that route is complicated by the fact that many couples are struggling to get their feet on the first rung of the housing market.

Cara Egbe, 27, and her partner Adam Shelton, 31, are two of the rare buyers. They have been together since 2010, when they met at his brother’s birthday party. She said they’ve been ‘inseparable’ since.

They both grew up in Oxford and both went to Cheney School; both work in the city for its university and they want to stay here for the foreseeable future. But doing so has been a strain.

Miss Egbe, who works as a venue sales coordinator at Oxford University Event Venues, recognises they are both lucky - but have had to save hard over years to pool resources and get the deposit which meant they could buy their two-bedroom home.

They bought their first property on Firs Meadow in Greater Leys in June. They only rented together briefly after they had lived with both parents, just to see what living together was like.

Miss Egbe, who grew up in New Hinksey, said: “I have been living with him for seven and a half years. At first we were living at my parents’ house and then we moved to his parents’ house instead of renting."

Just before they bought, they decided to rent because they thought it 'odd that we hadn’t lived together but we were going to buy somewhere but we hadn’t lived together properly [as a couple].'

They then lived with her parents in Cowley and then his in Marston before renting in Marston.

When they bought, they had two options if they were to stay anywhere near Oxford: Greater Leys or Kidlington. Great stretches of the city remained out of bounds, even with her salary and his from working as a finance manager at Oxford University.

The price of their £280k home was above the UK average of £240,000 but less than the average Oxford price of £415,000.

Many of her friends have moved out of the city to other towns such as Bicester but she says the only place she wants to be is in Oxford.

“A lot of people have said: ‘You get more for your money, you’re going to get a bigger place.’ But for me I think that’s really sad,” she said.

“I don’t want to be forced to live somewhere I don’t want to live. That is the whole point of knowing your own community.”

The government’s Help to Buy scheme provided the couple with no help because they were told at an event at the Kassam Stadium in 2015 that they earned too much money to receive assistance.

So although they now pay less in rent now they’re homeowners, that still grates.

She said: “We’re in a better position financially but we were in a bad position with Help to Buy.

“They told us that we didn’t match the criteria and that we earned too much money for help. That was the government’s chance to help – and they couldn’t.

"I feel like there should be some kind of scheme for people who have lived in an area that they have grown up in or something that could help first time buyers."