Meet Jemma. She's 30 years old, and works as a teacher in Shropshire. She's worked hard and saved up throughout her 20s, but it soon became clear that she was never going to be able to get together a deposit to buy a home of her own. Like millions of young people today, home ownership was a distant dream, and she faced a future stuck in the private rental market in a house she couldn't make a home.
As it turned out, Jemma is one of the lucky few who could rely on the Bank of Mum and Dad. Her father, Peter, raided his savings to make sure his daughter could buy a home. Peter's not alone. Yesterday, Shelter released new research showing that parents pay out a staggering £2bn each year to help their children into a home of their own, and the number of first-time buyers relying on their parents is growing fast. We're not talking about a few hundred or even a few thousand pounds either; the average contribution is an eye-watering £17,000. Parents are raiding retirement pots and cutting back on spending to make it happen.
This isn't new. Of course the bank of mom and dad has long been a big help for those who had access to it, it's just that increasingly it's going to be a bigger part of the inequality divide in our glorious new economy. It isn't just Trust Fund babies, it's the people who can score a relatively modest extra 20 grand when it's needed.