Nearly HALF of first time buyers now rely on parents’ cash to take first steps on property ladder
FIGURE has rocketed from a fifth just five years ago
NEARLY half of all first-time buyers now rely on cash from their parents to get on the housing ladder - up from a fifth just five years ago.
Alarming new findings reveal 34 per cent need a gift or loan from family - and an additional one in ten use money that has already been passed down to them.
One in three first-time buyers are relying on their parents or an inheritance to get on to the property ladderThe analysis means only 56 per cent are able to fund their own purchases.
The Social Mobility Commission, who have released the findings, warn the trend means more people from poorer families are being locked out of the property market.
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Former Labour minister Alan Milburn, who chairs the commission, said: “Home-ownership helps unlock high levels of social mobility but it is in free-fall among young families.
“Owning a home is becoming a distant dream for millions of young people on low incomes who do not have the luxury of relying on the bank of Mum and Dad.”
Mr Milburn added: “A major national effort is needed to expand opportunities for home ownership and will require more radical action on housing supply.”
The findings were drawn up for the commission by Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin University.
The report also reveals home-ownership for 25-to-29-year-olds has fallen by more than half in the last 25 years, from 63 per cent in 1990 to just 31 per cent.
The number relying on family to help them buy their first home was only one in five seven years ago.
The report’s lead author Dr Paul Sanderson added: “Going forward, the gap is likely to continue between those in the UK who can acquire that most significant of financial assets, the family home, and those who cannot.
“Only better-off young people and those who have parents who have already accumulated housing wealth are likely to be able to consider home ownership without radical changes to the housing market.”
The commission has called on the Government to commit to a target of building three million homes over the next decade to solve Britain’s spiralling housing crisis.