I’m A Wannabe First Time Buyer From A Working Class Background. My Biggest Competition? Your Parents

For as long as my adult working life has existed, I’ve squirrelled away every spare bit of cash I’ve found myself with, desperately chucking it into a LISA (previously Help To Buy) in the hopes that one day its contents would be enough to stop the cycle of me lining a landlord’s pockets. I’ve said no to holidays, hen dos, expensive purchases – I even moved out of London back to my home city of Edinburgh in the pursuit of cheaper rent when I graduated eight years ago (RIP student loan, how I miss thee). And finally, I’m there. I’ve started viewing flats that by all logic are well within my affordability. I’ve even started putting offers in. But time and time again, I’m outbid by 20k, 30k, 50k over the home report. Not by fellow buyers though – by their parents.Yup – truly there is no exhaustion quite as frustrating as trying to buy a flat when you’re from a working class background, completely self-funded, and in my case, trying to purchase solo. My biggest competition isn’t other buyers, it’s the people behind them funnelling cash into their deposits and bank accounts for over the asking price cash offers. The last flat I went for I was outbid by 30k… by a 21-year-old.Don’t just take my word for it. According to estate agency Savills latest analysis on first time buyers, the bank of mum and dad forked out an eye-watering £9.6 billion in gifts and loans last year.173,500 first-time buyers received assistance last year, receiving on average £55,572 – equating to just over half (52%) of all first-time buyers.And as Zoopla’s 2024 first time buyer report shares, financially supported first time buyers managed to buy 6 years earlier at the age of 32, compared to 39 for those who didn’t. And if a homeowner is under 30, you can count on the fact they’ve been given some cash as 76% of those who own in that age bracket accepted help.And for a final kick in the throat, over a quarter of first time buyers (26%) continue to receive help towards their mortgage payments, too. Quite frankly, how the fuck do those of us from working class backgrounds stand a chance?Before I get an onslaught of fury from various peers and their wealthy boomer parents – I’m not asking you to say no to that big wad of parental cash.I am not begrudging your financial aid from your family (god knows I wouldn’t say no to a cash handout right now given the fact YOUR parents are the reason I can’t buy) and would I help my own metaphorical kids out if I could? Yes. But if that’s what you’re getting angry about reading this, I’m afraid you’re missing the point and are a bigger part of the problem than you realise.There is no denying that the more offers are made over the asking price of properties, the more the original asking prices will go up and more and more working class people will be priced out of property ownership for good.So rather than get sniffy about the fact I’m drawing attention to the fact that yes, mummy and daddy came to the rescue and your flat hasn’t come from YOUR years of hard work – maybe just… admit that? Congratulations on buying your first flat, but why are you embarrassed to admit you got help? That’s a ‘you’ problem, I’m afraid.It’s OK that you got help, you just shouldn’t have had to need it in the first place. Because actually, how shit is that? Doesn’t it annoy you that you had to get help because the system in place isn’t enough to help any of us achieve property ownership on our own? Admitting that you got financial aid isn’t shameful and likewise, neither is me shouting about the fact that I grew up working class and don’t have any. But shaking your keys on Instagram and acting as if you’ve sweated for years to buy your first home when in fact you’ve had a big old cash injection isn’t helping anyone – yourself included, because, sorry, you look super entitled to people like me. Instead, by having these incredibly honest conversations, we can actually draw attention to the fact that the schemes that are in place for first time buyers aren’t enough. Trust me, it serves the UK Government incredibly well if we’re not talking about it – what change do we expect if we’re not asking for it in the first place? I’m not asking you to personally solve the class divide – generational wealth is an issue, but structural and societal barriers are a major problem. But by having this truth about home ownership conversation out in the open, those who have and those who have not can maybe fight together – because in every way possible, we are exhausted doing it on our own.Related...Opinion: Karen Millen Called A Breastfeeding Mum ‘Selfish’ – Here’s Why She’s WrongI Swapped 10,000 Steps A Day For 30 Minutes Of 'Japanese Walking' – I've Never Been More Active'My Husband Said We'd Split Childcare, Now He Wants Me To Be A Stay-At-Home Mum'

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