Nearly one in four home purchases this year will be backed by the “bank of mum and dad”.

That is up from fewer than one in five in 2019.

According to researchers from Legal & General and economics consultancy Cebr 23% of buyers, struggling with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, will need to borrow from friends and family.

However, thanks to the lack of house sales during lockdown, the total amount lent by Mum and Dad will actually fall this year from £6.3bn to £3.5bn.