Parents could help their children get on the property ladder by opting to sell their property and move into a smaller one, it has been claimed.

Recent figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors claimed that it had become 8.4 per cent more expensive to become a buyer in the UK, something which could make it even harder for people to get a foot on the property ladder.

Lucian Cook, director of residential property at Savills, said that as it becomes trickier for people to buy, many adults "are relying on [their] parents to help them out".

"When you end up with your empty nesters, one of the first things they are going to want to do is to get [their children] on the housing ladder," he said.

Despite concerns that people downsizing to smaller properties may actually harm first-time buyers by snapping up more of the limited stocks of affordable homes, Mr Cook said that downsizing is simply "a nice redistribution of wealth".

"All they are going to do by downsizing is going to free up capital to enable their children to get on to the housing ladder," he concluded.