Research from Legal & General Home Finance found that younger grandparents (aged 50 to 64) are twice as likely to use property wealth to gift to grandchildren (10%) vs 65 to 74-year-olds (5%).

It says this indicates the next generation of grandparents are becoming more likely to consider the value of their homes as part of their financial planning.

L&G found that grandparents look to provide financial support for a range of reasons, for example, helping in times of a crisis (13%), holidays (17%) or a wedding (5%).

Grandparents are also looking to support younger family members with their homes, either to get onto the property ladder or provide support for rent (5%).

The last time Legal & General ran its wide-ranging Bank of Mum and Dad research, it found that more than half (56%) of those under the age of 35 received a financial gift to help them step onto the housing ladder.

Craig Brown, CEO of Legal & General Home Finance said: “While grandparents have a wealth of life experience to pass on, they are also choosing to provide financial support to younger generations.

“With house prices remaining high, many homeowners will look to the value tied up in their property as a way to pass on a living inheritance to their grandchildren. This might be in the form of a large gift, such as a contribution to a deposit on a first home, or as regular financial support to meet rising living costs.”

Only half of parents charge live-at-home adult children rent

Meanwhile a report by Topcashback found that parents of 18 to 30-year-olds are financially supporting their children with free housing.

The cashback site found that only half of parents with adult children living at home charge them rent, while 40% of parents still financially support children who have flown the nest.

Those who do charge rent and board to their adult children do so to teach them good financial habits (61%). Similarly, parents believe contributing to costs is part of being an adult (60%) and they want to give their children an understanding of the real world (52%).