FIRST time buyers in Oxfordshire are increasingly turning to their parents for cash to secure a new home.

With prices, particularly in Oxford, continuing to soar to record levels, even one bedroom flats are becoming beyond the reach of young professionals despite them earning reasonable salaries.

Now, experts are saying they are seeing people desperate to get on to the property ladder being helped out by their parents, while other schemes such as the Government’s Help to Buy scheme are becoming increasingly popular even further up the property ladder.

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David Blythman, pictured, managing director of estate agents Scottfraser based in Headington, said: “Finding property even for £250,000 is becoming difficult.

“Inside the ring road, a one-bedroom flat starts at £180,000 and a two-bedroom is priced between £200,000 and £300,000 – more in places such as Summertown.”

 

He added: “We are still seeing first time buyers but more often than not they are being helped by the bank of mum and dad.”

Chris Calogarou of Andrews Estate agents, also in Headington, said: “There is so much competition in the market and if someone can find an exra £10,000 from their parents, then it can really help.”

Recent figures published by the Governments’s Land Registry showed average house prices in the county continued to rise last month to a new record high of £254,414. The figure was 0.3 per cent up on the £253,808 figure recorded in January.

And statistics produced by Nationwide show that in Oxford itself, prices have risen by 13 per cent in the last year to an average of £358,127.

As a result, more people are using the Government’s Help to Buy scheme, which offers a loan of up to 20 per cent of the price of the property or guarantees a mortgage provided the buyer has paid five per cent of the value of the home.

Teresa and Pete Brooke used the scheme to buy a four-bedroom home at the Great Western Park development in Didcot, moving from a rented property in Abingdon with children Tom, 17, Emily, 15 and five year-old Charlotte.

Mrs Brooke, 39, said: “Help to Buy helped us to buy a bigger property, as we wouldn’t have had a big enough deposit otherwise.

“We gained an extra bedroom by moving to our new home, and the rooms are very generous in size.”