Parents downsizing to help children

The increase in the number of first-time buyers relying on their parents for help in getting onto the property ladder has made downsizing attractive for more than one reason, according to Savills.

The estate agency has said that parents are able to help their children financially through moving to a smaller property, something that they may well feel the need to do in any case once their children are no longer living at home.

The practice is more common among those at the higher-end of the market who are looking for a "redistribution of wealth" in a family-based context, Savills added.

"Because of affordability issues for first time buyers, what we have seen is that the proportion of first time buyers who are getting an injection of capital from other sources – and relying on the parents to help them out – has increased," said Savills' director of residential property Lucian Cook.

"I think we've estimated it on the basis of the properties that we sell outside London – remembering that we're a top end agency [so] you're dealing with prime property there – about 30 per cent of vendors are selling to downsize.

"That's either because of retirement or explicitly to downsize," Mr Cook revealed.

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