Four out of ten first-time buyers are receiving help from their parents, with people prepared to remortgage their own home or delay retirement to help their offspring, research showed yesterday.
Half of parents who help their children get on to the property ladder give them a deposit, nearly double a year ago, according to Bradford & Bingley.
A further one in four people have withdrawn money from savings to help a child buy their own place, while 17 per cent have helped out with mortgage payments and 15 per cent acted as a guarantor on a home loan.
One in ten parents has bought a property jointly with offspring, but others have taken more drastic action with four per cent cutting back on holidays, three per cent remortgaging their own home and one per cent even delaying their retirement to help.
Nine per cent of parents have handed over money for other costs such as stamp duty, legal fees and surveys, while 14 per cent have also given their children furniture.
Among first-time buyers who aren't relying on their family to help them get on to the property ladder, one in ten has taken on a second job, working an average of just under 12 hours a week.
Nearly a quarter of people are also working an average of nine-and-a-half hours' over-time at their main job in a bid to be able to buy their own home sooner.
More than half of those looking to get on to the property ladder said they were spending less on going out, while 26 per cent were cutting back on mobile phone bills, television subscriptions and gym membership.
Just over one in ten people also moved back in with their parents to avoid having to pay rent.
Duncan Pownall, Bradford & Bingley's mortgage development manager, said: "The message we are getting from our report's findings is that many first-timers are prepared to compromise, work hard to save for a deposit and look to their families for extra help if needs be.
"As house prices continue to rise, families are having to help more to get the next generation on the property ladder."
But the research also found that, despite receiving help from their family, a fifth of first-time buyers were still taking at least four years to get on to the property ladder, and 58 per cent were having to compromise on their first home.
