Couple saved £16k in 18 months to buy £159K house at 22 – by moving in with parents

A YOUNG couple from Nottingham have bought their first home for £159,000 aged 22 - but they had to move in with their parents while they saved.

Jonjo Taylor-Sharpe, 22, and his girlfriend Kimberly Aucott, 23, managed to build up a deposit of £16,000 over the past 18 months while they have been living with Jonjo’s mum Gina – and now they are just waiting to collect the keys to their very own home.

Jonjo and Kimberly have managed to buy their first property almost a decade earlier than the current average first time buyer age of 30.

Kimberly, a social worker, moved into Jonjo’s family home after she finished her course at Lancaster University.

After living 140 miles apart while Kimberly studied, the couple knew they wanted to buy a property together and realised they would be able to save far more each month this way.

Jonjo, 23, says: "Renting has always seemed like dead money to me. My mum has been great and only asked us for around £400 a month towards the bills so we have been able to save up to £800 a month each while we have been living with her."

The couple, who first met at school, set money aside into a Barclays savings account – the interest rate on the account was low but they quickly set about building up as big a nest egg as they could.

House hunting was easier than expected – they viewed five properties near their home town of Loughborough and ended up picking the first one they had seen.

Jonjo, a technician, says: "When we saw the first house it was perfect. We viewed more afterwards to make sure but they just didn’t compare. The people we’re buying from have lived there 18 years so it’s been decorated nicely."

The couple paid £159,000 for the house outside Nottingham, around 25 miles away from Jonjo’s mum and just a short drive to their workplaces in Derby. They hope to move in within a couple of months.

Jonjo and Kimberly have put down a 10 per cent deposit on the property and chosen a three-year fixed rate mortgage with Nationwide with an interest rate of 2.49 per cent.

Their repayments will be around £600 a month over the 27-year term of the mortgage.

According to figures from the Mortgage Advice Bureau, some 99 per cent of first-time buyers opt for a fixed rate on their mortgage.

These deals mean you know exactly how much your monthly repayments will be for a set period, even if the Bank of England’s base rate of interest increases, providing valuable peace of mind at an expensive time.

Jonjo says: "I think my mum will be sad to see us go but we are so excited to get the keys and have been buying things for the house already – the spare room is full!"

Moving home with mum and dad might be a necessity now that first time buyers will have to fork out nearly £50,000 for a deposit on a mortgage if they want to own their first home.

One London lad bought a £135,000 three-bed house with his girlfriend at just 18 - but he made one big sacrifice.

While banks are starting to offer alternatives, such as "no deposit" mortgages to customers in order to help them get on the property ladder. 

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