The Abbey First-Time Buyer index showed only 9.7 per cent potential homeowners expect their parents to offer financial help to get their first home, compared to the one in five (23 per cent) surveyed six months ago. Only 7 per cent expected their parents to be their mortgage guarantor compared to the corresponding 12 per cent from the year before.
Despite this decline, the research found that parents were still helping their children in other areas of buying a home, with 45 per cent of new homeowners, the same as last year, expecting their parents to help them when they move into their new property.
Abbey believes that whilst parents are part of the solution for many first-time buyers, mortgage lenders can help too, by offering good mortgage deals with features that meet the needs of first-time buyers.
Of those that expect to get financial help from their parents, over half (55 per cent) believe their parents will not expect the money they borrow to be returned, while a further 15 per cent believe that they will never be in a position to be able to pay them back.
Despite the problems facing first-time buyers getting onto the property ladder, the dreams and aspirations for the perfect first house remain. In terms of what type of home is most preferred by first-time buyers, 24 per cent prefer the country cottage, 20 per cent the town house, 14 per cent the city apartment and 14 per cent the designer home.
Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, head of mortgages at Abbey, said: “The decline in the number of potential homeowners relying on their parents is a positive indication that first-time buyers are finding alternative ways of funding their homes. Certainly part of this is due to the rise in the number of mortgage providers offering better solutions to suit the needs of would-be homeowners.
“However, despite the decline parents still have a large role to play. With one in ten people still requiring parental help to buy and over half still needing help on moving day, its not just the children that feel the financial burden of buying a home.”
