Bank of Mum and Dad: why living inheritance is booming

The scale of family support in the property market

The Bank of Mum and Dad is no longer a term used to describe occasional or unusual help. It describes the mainstream of how property purchases happen in the UK.

Savills and Barclays research published in August 2026 puts the figures in stark relief: 53% of first-time buyers receive direct financial support from family. Family gifts and loans to property buyers totalled £8.3 billion in 2025; when inheritance from deceased relatives is included, that figure rises to £11 billion. Barclays estimates that the Bank of Mum and Dad has provided a cumulative £38.5 billion in support over the past four years.

The gap that family support bridges is significant. The average deposit for a first-time buyer with family assistance is £118,073. For those buying without family help, the average is £60,741 — a gap of nearly £57,000 that explains why younger buyers without family wealth are increasingly shut out of the market in many parts of the country.

The shift from inheritance to living inheritance

The more significant finding in this research may be the attitudinal one. 81% of those surveyed believe that parents and grandparents should help younger generations during their lifetime — not only leave an inheritance after death.

This represents a genuine shift. The traditional model of wealth transfer — accumulate during your lifetime, leave it all to the next generation when you die — suited an era when wealth was primarily held in financial assets and when housing was more affordable relative to income. Neither of those conditions applies in the same way today.

For homeowners in their 60s and 70s who want to help adult children or grandchildren now — rather than in twenty years when the inheritance might arrive — the challenge is practical: the wealth is in the property, not in liquid savings. You cannot hand over a slice of your home the way you can transfer a bank balance.

Why property equity is often the only practical source of a meaningful gift

Many homeowners who want to help family do not have accessible savings large enough to make a meaningful contribution to a property purchase. Their wealth is concentrated in their home — which is illiquid unless they sell it, downsize, or find another way to access the equity.

For homeowners who want to stay where they are and still help their children or grandchildren, releasing equity from the property is one of the few practical ways to convert that illiquid wealth into a usable gift without disrupting where they live or significantly depleting other assets.

The research points out that 63% of buyers aged 20–24 received family assistance, compared with 44% of buyers aged 45 and over. The pattern is consistent: family financial support flows downward through generations, and property purchase is now the single largest reason people give financial gifts.

What this means if you’re an older homeowner thinking about helping family

If you are in your 60s or 70s and your children or grandchildren are trying to buy or upgrade property, you are part of a pattern that describes millions of UK homeowners right now. The desire to help is not unusual. The obstacle is usually the same: the money is in the house.

Equity release is one option for converting some of that property wealth into a gift. It is not the only option, and it is not right for every situation. Downsizing, borrowing against the property in other ways, or drawing on other savings and investments may all be relevant depending on individual circumstances. But for homeowners who own a higher-value property and want to remain in it, releasing equity and gifting the proceeds to children now — rather than leaving it as inheritance — is increasingly the approach being taken.

Our guide to using equity release to help family covers how this works in practice. To understand the broader mechanics of how lifetime mortgages work, see what is equity release. For a sense of the figures, how much could I release is a useful starting point before any formal discussion.