Bringing up a child costs more than average semi!

IT costs more to bring up a child than to buy the average semidetached house, a report has found.

Parents raising a child from birth to the age of 21 in Britain will now have to shell out £231, 43 – considerably more than the £219,255 price tag of the average semi-detached home, as recorded by the Halifax house price index.

The cost in Scotland is slightly less at £230,9 .

Soaring childcare rates are behind the total cost increase of more than £2,500 in a year and £13,000 in five years, according to research by insurer LV=.

Nursery, nanny and babysitting fees, particularly in the preschool years, now account for nearly a third of the expense of raising a child to adulthood. Childcare charges stack up to £70,466, according to this year’s figures, up from £67,5 6 last year and £50,592 ten years ago.

Education also makes up nearly a third of the total budget, costing £74,430 throughout the child’s life.

However, a private education at a day school would add £141, 63 on average to the total, while boarding school would add a massive £260,927, according to the research compiled by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

A further £19,004 on average was spent by parents on feeding their child, £10,942 on clothing, and £4,614 on pocket money. Entertaining a child is also pricey, with £16, 2 spent on holidays, £9,307 on hobbies and toys and £7,464 on leisure.

On top of this, parents paid an average of £14,195 for special occasions, including birthday presents and driving lessons.

Surprisingly, the most expensive years were between the ages of one and four, when parents spend £63,224 on average.

London was the most expensive place to bring up a child, with the total cost being £253,63 . It was £214,559 in the cheapest region, Yorkshire and the Humber.

Children now take up a third of a household’s net income, with six out of ten parents surveyed saying they were struggling to manage their outgoings.