Aug 24 2006
The UK's first-time buyers are increasingly reliant on their parents for help purchasing their first home.
A new poll reveals that one in four first-time buyers (23 per cent) expect their parents to provide them with a loan or give them money for a deposit.
The study by high street bank Abbey found that the financial burden of buying a first home is increasingly falling on parents, with 12 per cent of buyers expecting them to act as guarantors and 13 per cent taking it for granted that their parents will help them purchase furniture and white goods.
Of those children expecting parents to help with a deposit, two-thirds said that they thought the cash would come from savings, eight per cent think they would remortgage and six per cent claim that the money would come from credit cards.
Many parents also support their offspring by allowing them to move back into the family home, with one in ten children living with their parents and saving for between one and two years and nine per cent for more than two years.
Abbey head of mortgages, Jeff Scott, said: "It is commonplace for parents to take their children back into the family home so that they can save for a deposit, as well as helping them out with cash gifts or loans."
A report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed this week that the average couple requires at least £29,000 for the deposit and stamp duty they will require for their first home, leaving many struggling to get a foot on the property ladder.
For those planning to invest funds for their children's future, Barclays offers a range of options, for more information click on our free brochures page.
