First home buyers turn to families to realise home ownership dreams, NAB study finds

New research by the National Australia Bank shows first home buyers are increasingly turning to their families to get a foot in Australia’s highly competitive property market.

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NAB’s analysis indicated an increase of almost 2% of first home buyers using the NAB Family Guarantee over the past five years - a scheme that allows customers to use money placed in a term deposit account, to support a family member in achieving home ownership.

NAB Executive Manager Angus Gilfillan explained the scheme is increasingly popular as it allows parents to support their child’s home ownership dream, whilst earning interest on the money put forward as security.

“The NAB Family Guarantee also provides flexibility so that customers could opt to use equity in their property as security if they don’t have access to cash in the form of a term deposit”, he said.  

Further research showed the majority of customers using the scheme in 2015 were aged between 20-29 (73%), followed by a large group aged between 30-39 (21%).

“Our data shows some customers are in their 30s or 40s when they buy their first home, while at the other end of the spectrum we have also seen 3% of first home buyers using the NAB Family Guarantee this year in their teens,” said Gilfillan.

These findings are increasingly relevant as the government considers whether first home buyers should be allowed to access their superannuation to pay for a home deposit.