The number of older adult children living with parents has surged past a million as runaway house prices have left a generation without a place of their own.
More than 1.23 million 25 to 34-year-olds are still at home, a 40 per cent increase on ten years ago, a study has found. The rise coincides with a 45 per cent leap in house prices, with the cost of the average first home rising from £146,000 to £211,000 over the period.
If the growth pattern continues at the same rate over the next decade, the UK could see a further 452,000 people aged 25 to 34 living with their parents.
The report, based on ONS data, says the situation has got so bad that almost one in five 30 to 34-year-olds never expects to move out, let alone buy. Younger people are slightly more optimistic with about one in ten 25 to 29-year-olds anticipating being at home indefinitely.
Most are “happy” with their situation but happiness falls with age, the research suggests. By 30, almost a third said they were unhappy, double the proportion in their twenties.
Lindsey Rix, of Aviva, the insurer, which conducted the analysis of the data, said: “The challenges of getting on the property ladder are well publicised but it’s startling to see that one in three adults who live with parents expects never to own a property and a further fifth believe the only way they will own a home is by inheriting one.”
