Parents paying for property dream

Children need help to get on the property ladder

Parents are contributing an average of almost £18,000 to help their children onto the property ladder, an Alliance & Leicester bank survey suggests.

Nearly half of parents said they felt responsible for helping their children fund a house purchase.

Fathers are more likely to contribute towards their child's first home with 36% delving into savings compared to 31% of mothers.

The bank said parental help was key to housing market demand.

"Our research suggests that many parents are planning to support their children well past the age of 18," Stephen Leonard, director of mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, said.

"This may be one of the reasons we are witnessing continuing first-time buyer activity, despite houses becoming more expensive," he added.

The parental help usually comes in the form of funding a mortgage deposit and fees.

On Thursday, Halifax bank said house prices had risen in July, following falls in May and June.

Halifax added that it had revised up its forecast for house price growth for 2006 from 3% to 5%.