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27 March 2006
Family homes will turn into "ant hills" as families pool financial resources to cope with outstanding mortgages and other debts, predicts a financial services group.
With divorce rates rising and marriages falling, parents and their thirty-something children will increasingly be moving back in with each other to share the financial burden and to pool retirement resources, reveals a report from Friends Provident.
"These family homes are beginning to resemble ant hills as children move back in and club together for the common good, paying one set of bills and clearing down one mortgage," commented Jeremy Ward, head of pensions marketing at Friends Provident.
"The most forward-thinking parents have realised that by pooling their money, the family unit is pulling together to build a secure future for each member - this is teamwork at its best and a new social and financial trend."
With housing prices having increased by 125 per cent between 1997 and 2005, according to figures from the National Housing Federation, many fear that mortgages have become unaffordable for first-time buyers.
"The average home in Britain now costs more than £175,000 and first-time buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to save the money for a deposit or to raise a mortgage," warned Conservative leader David Cameron recently.
"Under this government, homeownership for our young people threatens to become the preserve of the lucky few."
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