Get a 100pc mortgage (with your parents’ help)

Struggling first-time buyers can purchase a property without putting a penny down, but only if their parents are willing to help them get on the ladder.

A new mortgage from Halifax does not require applicants to have a deposit of their own. Instead, their parents are asked to save the equivalent of a 10pc deposit in cash with the bank.

Parents will earn 2.5pc interest annually on their savings and will be able to withdraw the funds after three years. If they save in this linked account, their children will be eligible for a Halifax Family Boost Mortgage.

The loan is a three-year fixedrate deal at 2.9pc and comes with cashback and no fees, although buyers are more likely to be attracted by the fact that they need no deposit of their own. Either the parent or child must

hold a Halifax current account. Halifax follows other lenders, such as Barclays and Lloyds, in offering 100pc mortgages to customers who have support from parents. Such deals offer an alternative to young house-hunters who are unable to save large sums for a deposit. Figures from Halifax show that the average deposit needed by a first-time buyer has risen by 52pc in the past decade, growing from £27,059 to £41,099. Mark Harris of SPF Private Clients, a mortgage broker, said that while house prices were now falling in many areas, young buyers were still finding it difficult to raise a deposit. “Growing demand from parents to help children on to the housing ladder, while still keeping control of their savings, is resulting in the growth in popularity and availability of these deals,” he said. Average age of a first-time buyer in 2019, according to research from Halifax