Pi-Consulting

Since 1975, house prices in the UK have risen twice as fast as homes in France, Germany, Japan and he USA. Britons have gone for home-ownership with the same zeal that Americans have brought to the buying of stocks and shares. The rising value of bricks and mortar has fueled a British epidemic of borrowing and self-indulgence. The casualties are first-time purchasers. Young couples (and increasingly young singles) find it well-nigh impossible to get their feet on the first rung of the property-ownership ladder. As a result, they are turning to their parents. Britain’s Council of Mortgage Lenders now say that over 40% of first-time buyers are depending on financial help from their mothers and fathers. When the family can’t – or won’t –help out, the kids simply get left behind. Skinflint parents are now being called “SKINS”, for “Spending the Kids’ Inheritance”. Source: The Economist, Pi.