The proportion of house sales reliant on funds from the bank of mum and dad will rise from 19 per cent in 2019 to 23 per cent in 2020, shows research from Legal and General.

Although the proportion of these is growing, real numbers are down, the research adds. In 2019, the BoMaD raised £6.3bn whereas this year it will come in at £3.5bn, with 85,000 fewer home purchases made.

In total, Legal and General expects 175,000 housing transactions with a value of £50.3bn to made with the help of BoMaD this year.

Legal and General says that, as well as depressing the housing market thus far, Covid-19 has also caused 15 per cent of BoMaD lenders to give more money that they planned to, with 18 per cent of these saying they will give at least 50 per cent more.

Buyers in London look to receive an average of £25,800 and at the opposite end of the table, those in the North East and Yorkshire £13,800. Most of this comes from cash savings – 39 per cent of BoMaD funds – followed by inherited funds, at 27 per cent.

Legal and General chief executive Nigel Wilson says: “If ‘Build, Build, Build’ is how we will recover from Covid-19, then the Bank of Mum and Dad will be centre stage once more. Generous parents, grandparents, family members and friends are gifting thousands towards deposits, with BoMaD outpacing even Stamp Duty cuts as a driver of renewed housing market activity.

“Whilst the generosity of the BoMaD is undoubtedly helping hundreds of thousands of loved ones to realise their homeownership goals every year, it remains a symptom of our broken housing market.

“Our reliance on BoMaD is unfair and unsustainable, and it’s putting retirements at risk as parents and grandparents try to help their kids to have a similar standard of living as they enjoyed.”

“In order to make a meaningful difference and to create a fair and long-lasting market dynamic, we need to become a housebuilding nation once again.”

BoMaD funds – followed by inherited funds, at 27 per cent.

In early August, Nationwide set out rules stating that it would only accept up to 25 per cent of a deposit from the bank of mum and dad, a stipulation responsible for much discussion from the mortgage industry.