'Boomerang' trend of young adults living with parents.

19th November 2020

I’ve two girls both under the age of 10.  Will they still be living at home with old dad in their 20’s and 30’s?

As you can imagine, I’m in and out of houses almost every day and it’s very common and perfectly understandable for me to see grown up kids still living in their childhood bedroom.

According to Katherine Hill from Loughborough University “Children living at home well into their 20s will not not be a temporary phenomenon, it’s here to stay.”

Research shows that 60% of single adults (aged 20-34) have either never left home or have ‘boomeranged’ back to the family home due to the fragile job market, low wages, unaffordable rents and life shocks such as relationship breakups. 

I suspect this figure might be even higher in London.

There’s around 3.5 million single young adults estimated to be living with their parents.  That’s an increase of a third in just 10 years and surely set to increase into 2021 and beyond.

There are conversations to be had about sons and daughters paying rent, contributing to bills and helping with household chores. Issues of privacy and independence arise, especially if the home is overcrowded. These sorts of conversations, researchers noted, “can cause some anguish”.

The growing cost of housing has fuelled the boomerang trend, with the proportion of adults aged 25-34 owning a home falling from 55% in 1996 to 34% in 2016.

Crikey, will my own kids ever be able to afford a home of their own? 

I moved from Belfast to London 20 years ago.  Sure it was expensive then but nothing like as much as it is today.  Truthfully, if I was an early twenty something now, the high cost of living would have prevented me from even considering a move to the bright lights of London.

This article on life back at home with mum and dad might prove useful.  https://www.buzzfeed.com/lauragallant/still-at-home