Sons get more help than daughters to get on housing ladder, survey finds

The gender pay gap might even extend to the bank of Mum and Dad , a new survey has suggested, after it found sons receive more help from their families than daughters when buying their first home.

Nearly two-thirds of people who purchased their first home in the past five years had financial help from family, rising to more than three-quarters of homeowners under the age of 30, according to new analysis commissioned by Zoopla .

The average amount of financial support received was £58,129, which is roughly in line with the typical UK first-time buyer deposit of £60,100, Zoopla said.

However, while daughters received an average of £51,671 towards their first property, sons got an average of £65,004.

The survey was carried out by Mortar Research in August 2024 among 1,013 people who purchased their first home in the past five years.

Dan Copley, consumer expert at Zoopla, said he and his team were “very surprised” by the disparity between what sons and daughters received.

He said that because it was so unexpected, the researchers had not asked additional questions on the gender divide.

But he added: “One possible explanation is weddings. In the UK it is traditional for the bride’s family to pay, and the average cost of a UK wedding is currently around £20,000.

“While this tradition may be on the decline in modern Britain, it could, at least in part, explain the difference, especially as it is more common within some groups in multicultural Britain.

“In addition, Ucas (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) data shows that females are more likely to apply to and go to university than males, and parents often support this financially.

“So there is a possibility that the increased cost for weddings and universities that some families pay for daughters may mean that this is evened out somewhat by parents when it comes to helping their sons with their first home.”

Meanwhile, the most common thing first-time buyers receive parental help with is the deposit – two-thirds of those who received support.

A quarter received help with legal costs, a fifth were given a hand with renovation costs – and 26% even got support with their mortgage payments.

But the survey suggests that parental support often comes with strings attached.

At least you know that, if you do go it alone, you won’t have Mum and Dad trying to tell you which curtains to buy

Half of those who received help said their parents went on to “interfere” with aspects of the home purchase.

And of that cohort, 21% said their parents felt they had a say in the home they bought, while 19% said their parents tried to interfere with how much they spent in total.

Among those who said their parents did interfere, one in five added that they “wished they never accepted it”.

Around one in seven said their parents even tried to have a say in the decorating.

Mr Copley said: “The research clearly shows that getting help from parents and family is very much the default when it comes to buying a first home – the vast majority of those who bought their first home in the past five years had help.

“This shines a light on how hard it can be to go it alone and buy one without this financial backing. But even if it takes a little longer, there are many ways for people to get on the housing ladder themselves.”

He added that many of those surveyed were not aware of schemes designed to help people get on the housing ladder without family money, such as shared ownership or lifetime ISAs.

“And at least you know that, if you do go it alone, you won’t have Mum and Dad trying to tell you which curtains to buy.”