May Rostom
On average, parental contributions help children buy homes four years earlier than those without them. Out of every 100 new homeowners below the age of 30, 16 will have had help from ‘the Bank of Mum and Dad’, or Bomad for short. That rises to one in four new homeowners under the age of 25. Those who have had help from their parents put down a deposit twice as large, bought bigger first homes, and had smaller mortgage payments than those who did not. Anecdotes about cash assistance from Mum and Dad have recently been backed up by evidence from Legal & General, which implies Bomad plays a non-trivial role in the housing market. I attempt to investigate its prevalence.