More mates sharing dreams of home

With house prices continuing to defy gravity, growing numbers of financially-stretched young professionals are clubbing together to join the home-owning classes.

Many seem to have taken the view that a toe on the property ladder is better than nothing, and we are now seeing the emergence of a new breed of home loan to cater for this need.

These so-called group mortgages - perhaps they should be dubbed "mates mortgages" or "This Life loans" after the cult BBC2 house-sharing show - typically allow up to four people to buy together, and take everyone's incomes into account when calculating how much they can borrow. They might be former university mates, a group of friends who work together, or siblings.

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