Helping hand onto ladder

Bank of mum and dad ‘helps first-time buyers purchase homes two years earlier’

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First-time buyers getting help from the “bank of mum and dad” typically make the jump onto the property ladder two years earlier and buy homes worth nearly £40,000 more, compared with those without additional help, analysis indicates.

UK Finance said that the growing reliance on financial help from relatives “risks deepening inequality in the housing market”.

It looked at the impact of family financial support in the first-time buyer market by analysing “assisted” and “unassisted” buyers in 2024.

UK Finance used modelling from its loans data to estimate which first-time buyers are buying with deposits they could have reasonably saved in their lifetime, given their income, and which buyers have deposits which may indicate they had help raising the cash.

First-time buyers who receive assistance are able to buy a home at an average age of just over 30, with an average household income of £56,000.

Those purchasing without support tend to be around 32-and-a-half years old and have a higher average household income, at £65,000, UK Finance said.