The country’s first new building society in 33 years is helping "boomerang" youngsters get onto the property ladder after launching in Epsom last summer.

The Family Building Society, based in Ebbisham House, Church Street, Epsom, launched last July and targets parents and grandparents who are able to provide financial support for their children to become first-time buyers.

It is a new arm of the well-established National Counties Building Society, which was established in 1896, and offers products and services for families who have "worked out they have to work together".

Mark Bogard, National Counties chief executive, said it wanted to launch a new building society which focused on a particular type of customer - youngsters struggling to buy their first home or who can't fund their education without support from older members of their family.

It also aims to help those older members of families who, in turn, are caught in the middle of a "sandwich generation" who want to help their offspring, plan their retirements and look after their elderly parents.

Mr Bogard said it is typically middle-class families, who have money available to help their children, for whom the building society will be of real help.

He said: "We looked at the dynamics of the family and more and more people now have to help each other.

"We ended up doing focus groups and within the 25-30 age group almost none of them had achieved being first-time buyers on their own.

"Some people were quite keen for their children to go and the parents knew that their kids were much more dependent for much longer than our generation were.

"Parents had issues around their own finances.

"Families have worked out that they have to work together."

Mr Bogard said it offers a tailored approach to individuals which focuses on its employees talking to its customers on a personal level to find out their needs and how best to meet them.

"It’s all very human here. The biggest part of a mortgage is whether we should lend the person the money.

"In a big bank it’s all done by a computer. We do it by hand.

"It’s a human judgement by a person and we have a very good credit record. We treat people as individuals," he added.

Findings from a YouGov survey, completed in May 2014, commissioned by the Family Building Society:

Half of parents with adult children believe their children now find themselves in a more difficult financial situation than they did at the same age

The main causes are cited as the cost of buying a first property, student debt, the cost of living and uncertain job opportunities

Parents are supportive of their adult children who are unable to move out of the family home, with as many still providing financial assistance as those being paid rent and three out of ten parents continuing to provide money after the child has moved out

A third of parents are having to make financial sacrifices to support their adult children

Eight out of ten parents are genuinely pleased to have adult children at home but one in three believe it is time for their adult children to move out