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Original poster

How much did your parents give you for a deposit?

358 replies

littlepieces · 20/06/2022 15:09

If you've bought your first home in the past 10-15 years, how much did your parents or family contribute towards your deposit? (If they did). And how much was the house? In context, I'm 35, don't own a home, can't get enough deposit together, and I'm just curious. All of my friends own now (some on their 2nd or 3rd homes) because their parents helped them get on the ladder.

Ps. There's no need to comment if you're part of the 'I bought my 4 bedroom house in 1980 for £10,000 by working hard' crowd 😄I'm sure you worked hard, and that's really great, but it's not relevant to this post. Thank you!

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 20/06/2022 21:55

Yeah I don't know why I read these threads as they are just depressing! I think we will be like you GorgeousLady.

Only thing our parents have is debt!

Wrongkindofovercoat · 20/06/2022 21:56

Nothing from mine, still renting in my 50's. Didn't receive any inheritance from either set of grandparents and don't envisage being in my parents will. I imagine I will still get the job of executor though, because I am dependable and trustworthy and still ask how high when they say jump !

The people I know in my situation have had no help and the ones who have bought their own homes have had some form of help, be it living at a reduced rent or free,a gift, a loan or inheritance, everything from a bit of help with a deposit to being bought houses outright.
It is what it is, some people get help, some people don't.

Reallyreallyborednow · 20/06/2022 22:04

Nothing.

i worked my arse off as a student, had 3 jobs in the holidays. Would work a night shift, go to my cleaning job, to bed for a few hours, then to a bar job at 6, back for the night shift at midnight.

uni in a small northern city where rent was cheap, and walked/biked everywhere.

this meant I saved my student loans, that was my deposit. Bought a small flat for postgrad, rented the spare room which covered my mortgage, 3 years later had a big enough deposit for a 2 bed house in the SE.

Interested in this thread?

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General money
Diamond7272 · 20/06/2022 22:10

Where on earth are people buying??? Anywhere inside the m25, £300,000 buys a tiny wreck, maybe a basic flat.

In the southeast, formerly 'cheap' places like margate and hastings are booming... Without a 50,000 deposit and fees, you cant buy anything, anywhere. Nothing. So saving 500 a month will take a young person 100 months, 8 years.

Just one problem... For that 8 years there is no way in hell they can pay market rent of 1000/mo for a 1 bed, bills, and save 500 a month on the junior salaries of starter jobs and with student loans of 6% interest rates.

No way in hell any more. IMPOSSIBLE

Reallyreallyborednow · 20/06/2022 22:18

*Just one problem... For that 8 years there is no way in hell they can pay market rent of 1000/mo for a 1 bed, bills, and save 500 a month on the junior salaries of starter jobs and with student loans of 6% interest rates.

No way in hell any more. IMPOSSIBLE*

you do realise there are other places to live and work outside of london and the se?

a lot of northern towns you can still get a 2 bed flat or 2up 2down terrace for under £150k.

wherethemonkeyssing · 20/06/2022 22:18

We bought in 2012 with a £30k gift from PIL and £30k we saved ourselves. House cost £299k in the SE. Sold in 2016 for £450k. Feel very fortunate that we were able to get on the property ladder when we did as graduates entering the profession we both work in now still have the same starting salary as they did when we started in 2008.

Chaoslatte · 20/06/2022 22:25

Diamond7272 · 20/06/2022 22:10

Where on earth are people buying??? Anywhere inside the m25, £300,000 buys a tiny wreck, maybe a basic flat.

In the southeast, formerly 'cheap' places like margate and hastings are booming... Without a 50,000 deposit and fees, you cant buy anything, anywhere. Nothing. So saving 500 a month will take a young person 100 months, 8 years.

Just one problem... For that 8 years there is no way in hell they can pay market rent of 1000/mo for a 1 bed, bills, and save 500 a month on the junior salaries of starter jobs and with student loans of 6% interest rates.

No way in hell any more. IMPOSSIBLE

I bought in Berkshire in 2019 - £250k 2 bed house close to London commuting links, current value roughly £280k so still well below 300. 10% deposit and didn’t need anything like another £25k for fees - more like £3k. Was renting a 1 bed flat for £800 a month before that. Definitely possible.

Diamond7272 · 20/06/2022 22:31

I do love the argument of 'move to the north if you cant afford london or the soutg east'...

Then you get to the north and face all the welcoming treatment the Cornish are presently dishing to outsiders...

'you people from london and the south east buy up all the houses so our own kids cant afford a home'...

Truth is, everyone i know in tgeir 30s and 40s in the south east who graduated around 2003 and missed the housing boom have HAD to ask for serious family help to stay... And family have helped because grandmas bungalow worth 100k in tunbridge wells in 2003 is now worth nearly a million.

The ones in the pickle are those who have no family, no help or have been told 'we did it in the 80s so wont help' or 'cut your cloth' as my delightfully religious and spoilt aunt regularly churns out to younger people.

Ps: both my grandmothers never did a days work in their lives but took full state pensions for 20yrs because their husbands were entitled to them. Family helping is no shame - the state helped them plenty with free uni grants and so on.

Orangesox · 20/06/2022 22:40

Absolutely nothing. Bought in 2015, in the North so we could afford said house - £189.5k property, 20% HTB loan and 35 year mortgage to make it affordable but really pushed ourselves to get as big as we could afford so we could stay put long term. Saved the money to clear the HTB at the 5 year point once we’d moved in.

PashunFroot · 20/06/2022 22:41

Diamond7272 · 20/06/2022 22:10

Where on earth are people buying??? Anywhere inside the m25, £300,000 buys a tiny wreck, maybe a basic flat.

In the southeast, formerly 'cheap' places like margate and hastings are booming... Without a 50,000 deposit and fees, you cant buy anything, anywhere. Nothing. So saving 500 a month will take a young person 100 months, 8 years.

Just one problem... For that 8 years there is no way in hell they can pay market rent of 1000/mo for a 1 bed, bills, and save 500 a month on the junior salaries of starter jobs and with student loans of 6% interest rates.

No way in hell any more. IMPOSSIBLE

We bought our first house for 100k 7 years ago. 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, front and back garden.

Working class families often go straight into work from school so aren’t on junior graduate wages or having to lay back student loans.

We rented, £600 a month and lived on one wage and save the other wage.

Diamond7272 · 20/06/2022 22:48

I couldnt give a monkeys about working class families. I need teachers, nurses, doctors and dentists in my town, all graduate jobs and skillsets.

All this 'we bought for 100k' in wales means nothing in my life or the lives of millions of families and elderly in the south east

Babyroobs · 20/06/2022 23:15

We did buy 20 years ago. parents contributed the deposit which was around 8k. I will try to help my young adult kids to buy but it's going to be hard with four of them.

Coffeeandtv83 · 20/06/2022 23:20

Nothing, they couldn’t afford to.

Daisybuttercup12345 · 20/06/2022 23:23

Zero

LovelyYellowLabrador · 20/06/2022 23:34

Nothing and no one I know if real
lode got anything off the bank of mum n dad either
bought first house 22 years ago

PashunFroot · 20/06/2022 23:37

Diamond7272 · 20/06/2022 22:48

I couldnt give a monkeys about working class families. I need teachers, nurses, doctors and dentists in my town, all graduate jobs and skillsets.

All this 'we bought for 100k' in wales means nothing in my life or the lives of millions of families and elderly in the south east

Oh right. You don’t need builders, supermarkets, plumbers, mechanics, bus drivers etc?

Daisyroseandhyacinth · 20/06/2022 23:49

£20,000 in 1996. PIL. My parents didn’t give us anything.

Arthursmom · 20/06/2022 23:51
  1. Worked in Saudi Arabia to get the cash together. Sold it and made £50k. Merged with partner who's parents had given £50k and had bought a small investment property with a £5k deposit that has come good! It's a gamble for sure but the first step on is the hardest. Good luck
NancyDrooo · 21/06/2022 00:01

My parents gave me the 10% deposit on my first home with the understanding that when I sold it I would repay them 10% of the sale price. It almost doubled so they did well for a 5 year investment (as did I!)

I had saved up some money myself, but they made this offer so I could use my savings to furnish it nicely. Forever grateful, and I hope I can help my kids out in a similar way if they need it.

risetodaysun · 21/06/2022 00:08

We bought a 250k house 12 years ago with a 10% deposit which we saved up for. We were not given anything towards our deposit from our parents. House is worth 500k now. We would definitely not be able to buy a house now without help from parents.

LittleMousewithcloggson · 21/06/2022 01:00

50k from parents in 2005
Bought run down house for 200k
lived with parents for another 6 months rent free spending all spare time painting, DIY and modernising with 10k given from inlaws
We were very lucky to have that support
just sold for 550k

Waterfool · 21/06/2022 01:43

£0 help. Bought in 2015. Greater London. Very early twenties (couple).

good salaries so could save around £1k-£2k a month depending on overtime etc.

£18k saved. £9250 put down (5%) for 1 bed flat £185k. Spent the rest of the money plus some doing it up (mostly DIY). Once work was done overpaid on mortgage every month/continued saving. Sold for £240k in 2018. Bought 4 bed house for £400k bit further out. Again lots of work done to property, think it’s now worth around £475k.

KobaniDaughters · 21/06/2022 01:43

We bought in 2009 and my parents happened to sell a holiday home at the same time and gave us £10K and my grandad gave us £6K, which pushed our budget up. We had already saved a deposit ourselves but with their help we were able to get a marginally more expensive place without a bigger mortgage.

TheGirlOnTheDragon · 21/06/2022 02:44

Nothing.

My first house was purchased in 2010 for £300k. My current house is worth £850k.

I am a lone parent. I do have a large mortgage, which is a big stress.

user1471548941 · 21/06/2022 05:32

Bought a 1 bed house for £185k (market town in SE) in 2018.

i saved up £13k, parents lent me the remaining £5k so I could secure my dream house (it’s a character cottage), which I paid back over 18 months.

Most of my friends got gifted £50k + and had partner’s parents contribute also! Things were rather tight for me with no parents and no chunky deposit!

met DH the following year and we are about to buy a 3 bed detached with our savings from the last 3 years + his savings from before we met + equity release from my house, which will be rented out.