17,000 to get children on the property ladder

Survey reveals nearly half of all parents are willing to pay an average of 17,000 to put their children on property ladder.

08:03 17 June 2004

A new Survey has revealed that nearly half of all parents are willing to pay to put their children on the home ownership ladder.

Many expect they will have to contribute an average of 17,000 so their adult children can get started in the world of property.

A MORI survey carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed that more than half of those who expect their children to become homebuyers think they won't succeed without a substantial financial contribution.

Nearly half of the parents surveyed (47 per cent) said they would be happy to contribute, with most saying it would be in the form of a gift, rather than a loan.

Richard Best, the director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: "Parents who are owner-occupiers are coming to terms with the fact that high house prices are not necessarily good news after all."

He added: "The value of their own property may have risen, but their children will find it increasingly difficult to follow them up the home ownership ladder unless they are prepared to help them with a substantial gift or loan."

In the North of England, where starter homes are least expensive, the figure parents have to stump is significantly lower at 7,220, rising to 23,670 in the South, where prices are highest and housing shortages most acute.

A majority of parents who are prepared to help believe they can find the money without changing the financial arrangements for their own home, but one in five are prepared to borrow to raise capital for their children.