Quantifying the Bank of Mum & Dad
The Bank of Mum & Dad has a huge role to play in the UK housing market. With the price of homes now making it very difficult for unassisted buyers to get onto the housing ladder, more and more first-time buyers are looking for financial support from family members, most notably parents.
Affordability Crisis
Housing in the UK has become increasingly unaffordable for ordinary people. The problem has escalated quickly over the past 20 years during which time house prices have risen by an average 7.5% a year.
During this time housing has become as much an asset as it has a roof over one’s head. Getting onto the housing ladder is now viewed as the cornerstone to financial prosperity throughout life, including into retirement.
The country is increasingly becoming divided between the haves and the have-nots. Parents who have benefited from the strong uplift in house prices over the past 20–40 years are now helping their children and other family members buy a first or indeed a subsequent home and in so doing helping to ensure that their off-spring sit in the have camp of the future.
With housing becoming as much an asset as a roof over one’s head, the Bank of Mum & Dad is passing down huge sums of money to ensure that their children become part of the haves rather than have-nots.
About the Survey
In order to understand the help that could be provided by the Bank of Mum & Dad in the future, JLL research has teamed up with YouGov to undertake a survey of households in London and South Eastern England (the South East and East of England combined).
The research sought the opinions of more than 5,200 people in these regions.
Furthermore, we have used CACI’s Acorn classification analysis so that we can understand the degrees of financial help which might be provided by the wealthiest households through to the poorest.
In the survey we asked a variety of questions ranging from how much financial help households expected to pass down to their children to how they intended to fund such help. The results of this part of the survey are presented here in this report on quantifying the Bank of Mum & Dad.
We also asked about inheritance, helping other family members and views on issues such as affordability and the lengths to which parents should go to help their children buy a home. An analysis of these parts of the survey are presented in the two reports which accompany this.
Key Findings
This research has uncovered some startling numbers. For example, in this first report we learn that the Bank of Mum & Dad in London and South Eastern England is worth more than £100bn, that this could help fund over £1tn of property purchases and play a part in between a quarter and a half of all house purchases in these regions each year.
The infographic opposite summarises the key findings from this research.
The conclusion from this research is that the Bank of Mum & Dad is set to play a key role in the housing market both across the UK but most particularly in London and South Eastern England.

Total Value of Bank of Mum & Dad
The housing crisis in London and South Eastern England is so acute that families are preparing to fork out more than £100bn to help their children buy a home. With more than half of this being passed down over the next five years, the Bank of Mum & Dad is set to play a vital role in the housing market. Between a quarter and a half of all home purchases will be part-funded by the Bank of Mum & Dad, providing notable transaction and pricing support for London and South Eastern England housing markets.
Helping Households
A pool of at least 1.61m households in London and South Eastern England with someone aged 35 or more and with at least one adult child intend to financially help their children buy a home.
16m are based in South Eastern England with a further 450,000 households in London. Unsurprisingly the wealthiest households are most likely to help but as an indication of the scale of the housing affordability problem a notable proportion of the poorest households are also willing to lend financial support.
57% of Affluent Achiever households expect to hand over funds with 18% of Urban Adversity families willing to help (see chart).
Total Value of Help
In total Bank of Mum & Dad households in London and South Eastern England with at least one adult child expect to pass down £103bn to their children to help them buy a first or subsequent home.
Two-thirds of this will derive from households in South Eastern England while the remaining third will come from London.
Affluent Achiever households will be the richest source of Bank of Mum & Dad funds, accounting for £63.3bn or 61% of the total. Interestingly, £47.2bn or 46% will come from Affluent Achiever families in South Eastern England which far outweighs the contribution from all other households including the richest families in London.
£1tn of homes could be bought using the Bank of Mum & Dad in London and South Eastern England
Households expect around £58bn of Bank of Mum & Dad funds to be handed down over the next five years, equating to £8.6bn a year. Not all of this will help fund home purchases in London and South Eastern England but it is estimated that around 74% or £6.4bn pa will be spent in these regions. In 2015 £133bn of residential property was purchased in London and South Eastern England meaning that the £6.4bn Bank of Mum & Dad annual fund could account for around 5% of the total value of all purchases.
Assuming Bank of Mum & Dad funds are used for a 10% deposit they could help to buy as much as 48% of all home purchases in these regions each year over the next five years. If the funds are used for a 20% deposit on average they could help to buy around 24% of all home purchases.
So between a quarter and a half of all home purchases in London and South Eastern England are likely to be supported by the Bank of Mum & Dad. This implies that between 100,000 and 200,000 housing transactions a year in these regions will be part-funded by the Bank of Mum & Dad.
24–48% of housing transactions in London and South Eastern England over the next five years will be supported by the Bank of Mum & Dad
For more research on Inheritance and Attitudes on the Bank of Mum & Dad visit our New Residential Thinking Research: http://jll.link/60028UbAj
