First-time buyers club together

Posted: 11 Sep 2006 11:21:29 GMT

More and more people are teaming up with friends in order to get a foot on the UK property ladder, as house prices in Britain remain high.

New research indicates that group mortgages are becoming increasingly popular, as first-time buyers seek new ways to purchase their first home.

The study by HSBC found that 93 per cent of potential first-time buyers claim that affordability is a problem and more than half (57 per cent) say that they would consider buying a property with family or friends.

The bank reveals that 73 per cent of respondents to its survey still living at home with their parents would consider sharing the cost of a mortgage with other people in order to move into their own place.

Carina Kemp, HSBC head of mortgages, commented: "The average house price in England and Wales now stands at almost £200,000, which is over six times the average salary, but home ownership is as popular as ever so first-time buyers are thinking more laterally about how to get on the ladder."

HSBC, which offers the opportunity to purchase a new home with up to three friends, found that a quarter of first-time buyers (27 per cent) want to stop spending cash on rent, 20 per cent want the independence that comes with home ownership and 19 per cent want to enter the property market before prices soar even higher.

Commenting on government figures showing that UK house prices rose again in July this year, Milan Khatri from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said: "House price rises for first-time buyer properties fell back in July but at 5.6 per cent is still running above average wage rises, increasing difficulties for would-be buyers to get on to the housing ladder."

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