First-time buyers 'need help to purchase'
Published On 24 May 2007
Nearly a third of first-time buyers need financial help from their parents - as well as lending in the form of a mortgage - to be able to purchase their home, new research suggests.Figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that 31 per cent of young home buyers anticipate financial help from their parents, on top of mortgage borrowing.
Even with mortgage lenders offering higher loan to value ratios, 76 per cent of people under 25 do not believe they will be able to afford a home without help from their parents.
Indeed, the data shows that 39 per cent of people who are under 30 and have already bought a home revealed that they needed help from 'the bank of mum and dad' to get themselves on the property ladder.
"We were intrigued last year to find that, while around eight out of ten people believed it had never been harder for first-time buyers to enter the market and that action was needed, only eight per cent of them felt that parents should do more to help," commented the CML's head of research, Bob Pannell.
"Over the past few years, parents have already been providing significant help to younger home-buyers, and there is uncertainty about whether they can do even more."
Figures released by the CML towards the end of March showed that the typical first-time buyer has to spend 18 per cent of their salary servicing the interest on their mortgage.
