Parents’ cash helps half of first home purchases

ONE in two first-time home buyers will rely on cash from their parents as prices and mortgage rates soar.

The “Bank of Mum and Dad” will lend a total of £25billion to their children over the next three years to fund nearly half of all first home purchases, according to Savills estate agents.

This year, parents will lend £8.4billion to help children buy homes – 68 per cent more than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.

Since then, the Covid property boom has hit housing affordability just as rising interest rates are starting to make mortgages far more expensive, meaning young people need more help to get on the property ladder.

The “Bank” will support 160,000 first-time purchases – nearly a fifth more than in 2019. Over the three years to 2024, nearly half a million first-time buyers will get financial help from parents.