The average amount borrowed was £1,552 each but around 26,400 first-time buyers each received between £20,000 and £40,000 from their friends and family.
As property prices increase across the U.K, the bank believes that people not already on the property ladder will become more reliant on their family to help them raise a deposit. In particular, Scotland and the North East have recently seen large increases in house prices — between quarter one 2003 and quarter one 2004, the average property in the North East shot up by over a third (36%) and in Scotland by 16.5%.
Of those first-time buyers interviewed who borrowed money from friends and family, the findings show that 31% do not intend to pay them back and just over one in four (28%) said that it will take them over three years to repay the money. Only 21% said that they would repay them within one year.
The bank’s findings also found that the average age of a first-time buyer is 36 and on a regional basis, the South East has had the highest concentration of first-time buyers over the past two years and East Anglia the lowest. It also appears that the North West has a high concentration of first time buyers while the North East has considerably lower.
Robert O’May, Home Insurance Manager, Sainsbury’s Bank said: "First time buyers now represent around 30% of overall mortgage lending which is down from 51% in 1991. If house prices continue to rise, the pressure on parents to help their children on to the property ladder will grow."
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