A LOCAL housebuilder has teamed up with a new mortgage provider to help people across the region to take their first step on the property ladder.

Barratt Developments North East and Generation Home have collaborated for the first time in a country-wide initiative.

Generation Home lets buyers team up with friends or relatives who can ‘invest’ in property alongside homeowners to boost their buying power and Barratt Developments is so far the only housebuilder to offer such a mortgage product to its customers as one of only two divisions trialling the new mortgage solution from this month.

Fenton Hewitt, sales director at Barratt Developments North East, said: “For many people who are trying to get on the housing ladder with a minimal deposit, the only way has traditionally been through the Government’s successful Help to Buy scheme.

“Now, through our innovative partnership with Generation Home, we are exploring different ways to help people buy their first home and take that all-important step onto the property ladder. We hope to see huge success with this new partnership and we look forward to taking such a positive step as a first for the country.”

Once the pilots have finished and demand from customers has been established, Barratt Developments will be rolling out the service across the country.

New research from Generation Home shows that over 60 per cent of parents said they would contribute more to the deposit if the money could be used as an investment in the property. With further research showing that 75 per cent of parents would be happy to contribute more to a deposit if their children could make full mortgage payments with the parents only on standby to help if necessary.