Parents fear children will never own their own home

In research from a new YouGov poll for the NHF, 81% of parents in England of children 18 and under are worried about the impact of rising house prices on the next generation. Over two thirds of parents (69%) fear their children will not be able to buy their own home without financial help from the ‘bank of mum and dad’.

Graham Lennox, GUHG’s Group Director of Finance, said: “This is yet more evidence of the huge housing crisis we face in Britain. It is vital all political parties make housing a top priority if we are to find a solution which must include building more social housing.”

Many parents are making the effort to give the next generation a leg up, with a quarter already saving money specifically for their children’s first home. At the same time, six per cent of parents are still reliant on hand outs from their own parents to help with spiralling housing costs.

The National Housing Federation predicts that by 2020 a staggering 3.7m young people, today’s school children, will be living with parents and by 2030 house prices will soar to 13 times the average salary.

According to the National Housing Federation’s research, over three quarters of parents (76%) believe more attention and investment should be given to affordable housing but 80% do not think any of the main political parties will effectively deal with the issue of housing.

National Housing Federation chief executive, David Orr said: “We can’t let our children become the generation of lost opportunities. Parents should be looking forward to a bright and prosperous future for their children, but are quite rightly alarmed that they will be worse off than them.

“Children are facing the ticking time bomb of being priced out of the communities where they’ve grown up, and unless they are able to borrow from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ many will face living in their childhood bedrooms well into adulthood or renting for the rest of their lives.

“Parents are feeling the pressure to foot the bill to safeguard their children’s futures but they don’t feel any of the mainstream political parties are tackling housing issues. We need the Government to take action to end the housing crisis within a generation, for the next generation.”