Yes, my parents helped me buy a house. And this is why

My boyfriend and I bought a house this year.

When we first inspected it, I almost fell through the holes in the creaky old floorboards. The lime-coloured paint was peeling off the walls, there was a bug problem, and the sewerage system had given up months before (the smell alone probably put off most of our competition.)

But the thing is, even though it required a total renovation, it still cost us over $800,000 for a teeny two-bedroom terrace. And without the help of both sets of parents in the form of a $40k loan? There’s no way we’d be able to get our not-very-well-heeled feet onto the property ladder.

Our situation might sound ridiculous but a new study reveals that it’s far from rare — because a whopping two in five first-home buyers are now relying on their parents to buy a home, according to a report released today.

Yep, 42 per cent of first home buyers — and 19 per cent of total buyers — live with their folks while a tenant pays their mortgage, ask to borrow money from their parents or have their parents go guarantor on a bank loan, according to The Housing Sentiment Report released by realestateview.com.au today.

So is this the newest evidence that Generation Y are a bunch of entitled brats? Should we add “help with housing” to the ever-growing list of unreasonable, self-absorbed demands often associated with the under-30s set?

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