It all sounds horribly familiar – parents being urged to help their first-time buyers get onto the property ladder.

But not here again, thank God. News comes from the UK where housebuilder Barratt and Japanese finance firm Hitachi Capital have teamed up to help first-timers. The UK arm of Hitachi is offering an unsecured loan to parents of first-time buyers buying a Barratt home to help them raise the deposit mortgage lenders are currently demanding.

Buyers need to find 5 per cent of the value of the property; their lucky parents can borrow the equivalent of 15 per cent, to give a total deposit of up to 20 per cent.