22 Oct 2012

British parents want to be repaid - with interest

5:37 pm on 22 October 2012

More than half of British parents who offer financial help to their children to buy their first home expect to be paid back - and nearly three-quarters of them want interest.

A study has found just a third (31%) of relatives offered cash as an outright "gift", while almost a fifth said they had asked for part-ownership of the property to collect their money when the home was eventually sold on, British bank HSBC says.

The bank's survey of 1000 first-time buyers found that while about a fifth of them had received family finance in the past year, 52% of parents expect to be paid back, PA reports.

Some 73% of parents who do want their money back also expect interest, ranging from 2.1% to 2.5% on average - close to the current rate of inflation.

The typical size of a parental gift or loan varied widely, with first-time buyers aged up to their mid-20s receiving about £19,000 and those aged from their mid-30s upwards receiving more than £42,000 on average.