25-08 - Flipbook - Page 75
August 2025
The four friends are among a growing number of people with non-traditional mortgages.
Some of the UK's biggest lenders have reported trends in people co-buying with friends, siblings and parents.
Lloyds Bank said its research found half of young first-time buyers were willing to consider
more non-traditional routes to be able to afford a home, while Barclays reported "a strong
interest" in non-traditional mortgages this year.
Natwest head of mortgages Lloyd Cochrane said the bank was seeing "more and more
customers think about different ways of getting on the housing ladder", but there was a
need to raise awareness of non-traditional ways to get there.
Sales and marketing director at Fairview New Homes, Chris Hood, said that in the past two
years they had seen an increase in the number of enquiries and sales from first-time buyers
teaming up with friends or family members to purchase a home.
Part of the decision for Francesca, Graeme, Sonja and Kieran was that they wanted to stay
close to their workplaces in London.
It helped they were already close friends and living together "so it didn't feel like such a big
step", Francesca says.
"If anything, moving in just the two of us felt like a bigger step."
Kieran points out the couples have each been together for a decade, so they were "fairly
confident" they would not to split up and "cause havoc".
Francesca and Sonja found another bonus, in that they spent a lot of their maternity leave
together, which Sonja says "helped in a time that can be really lonely".
The two families share groceries, childcare and cooking - splitting all expenses four ways and their two children get on "like siblings", according to all the parents.
The reaction from others has been positive, Kieran says.
"Whoever I tell about it, they always think it's a great idea and they like it," he says.
"But I do have to preface it with: 'It's not like a commune or anything. It's communal living.'"
SpareRoom, a UK-based website that specialises in flat-sharing and finding flatmates, recently conducted a survey on 6,524 flatmates and lodgers in the UK.
When asked how they planned to afford a deposit, of those who expected to buy a property, 89% said savings, 44% said they planned to team up with a partner, 25% said with financial help from friends or family, 17% said inheritance, 9% will team up with a sibling or parent,
and 6% will team up with a friend.
Of the 14% who said they did not expect to be able to buy a property, almost half said it
was because their family could not help with a deposit.
Things to consider
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The legal agreement or deed of trust
Adam French, consumer expert at Money Facts, said: "What happens if the mortgage cannot be paid, or for example one of you wants to move out? Having all of that crystal clear
in writing is really important."
