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The boomerang generation: Forced back to the nest by lack of jobs and high cost of living | The boomerang generation: Forced back to the nest by lack of jobs and high cost of living |
(about 5 hours later) | |
The boomerang generation, so called for returning to the family home after only a brief spell away, is growing at a faster rate than ever as young adults are being priced out of independence, according to official figures. | The boomerang generation, so called for returning to the family home after only a brief spell away, is growing at a faster rate than ever as young adults are being priced out of independence, according to official figures. |
Record numbers of people in their 20s and 30s are now living | |
with their parents as unemployment, soaring house prices and the | |
rising cost of living make it harder than ever to fly the nest. The | |
recession has also accelerated this change, with the number of 20- | |
to 34-year-olds staying in the parental home soaring by 38 per cent | |
in a decade to 3.35 million, according to the Office for National | |
Statistics (ONS). | |
The phenomenon is most common among men – one in three of whom | |
now live at home in their 20s and early 30s. This shift has pushed | |
the number of men still living with parents past two million for | |
the first time since records began 18 years ago. | |
Overall, more than a quarter of young adults lived in the | |
parental home last year, the ONS figures show. | |
The rapid change means Britain may be on the brink of a cultural | |
shift where families live together for up to a decade longer. This | |
could bring the UK in line with parts of the Continent, where it | |
has long been more common for adults to stay on in the family | |
home. | |
Even in countries where staying at home in adulthood is already | |
common, the recession has been making it more widespread. | |
In Spain, 55 per cent of 25- to 29-year-olds now live at home. | |
In Italy, 60 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds stay with parents, up | |
from almost 50 per cent in 1983. | |
Young adults have been hit hardest by unemployment | |
and those living with parents in Britain are more than twice as | |
likely to be unemployed than those who do not. | |
In the second quarter of 2013, almost one in five economically | |
active 18 to 24-year-olds was unemployed. | |
Citizens Advice chief executive, Gillian Guy, said: “Young | |
people have been hit hard by the recession. Since the start of the | |
downturn Citizens Advice Bureaux have seen a 53 per cent increase | |
the number of young people seeking help. | |
“The challenges of finding work and affordable housing go hand | |
in hand and are especially tough for young people trying to enter | |
the job market. Since 2007, the number of people aged 17 to 24 | |
seeking our advice on rent arrears to housing associations has gone | |
up 56 per cent, while the number needing help on Jobseeker’s | |
Allowance has more than doubled.” | |
Living in the parental home is most common among those in their | |
early 20s, almost half of whom do so. It also applies to 8 per cent | |
of 30- to 34-year-olds, however, that rate rises to 10 per cent | |
among men in that age bracket. | |
The surge in young adults living with their parents also | |
coincides with a sharp increase in house prices in relation to the | |
level of average income for someone trying to get their first | |
foothold on the property ladder. | |
In 1996, the average price paid by a first-time buyer for a | |
property was 2.7 times their annual income, according to the ONS. | |
But first-time buyers now face having to pay a price for a home | |
which equates to 4.4 times their annual income. Forcing them | |
to stretch out their borrowing even further, or turn for help | |
to the “Bank of Mum and Dad” in order to build a more viable | |
deposit. | |
Campbell Robb, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, | |
said: “These startling figures provide yet more evidence of the | |
dramatic impact the crippling cost of housing is having on our | |
children and their parents. | |
“Sadly, these figures won’t be a surprise to the thousands of | |
hard-working young people still living in their childhood bedroom. | |
Our research shows close to half of parents believe their children | |
will never be able to afford a stable home, despite working hard | |
and saving,” Mr Robb added. | |
There are several factors which make men more likely to stay at | |
home. On average, women form partnerships with older men, meaning | |
600,000 more of them are cohabiting by their early 30s. | |
When relationships end, women are more likely to take the caring | |
responsibilities for children, while the men leave the home. Last | |
year, there were 589,000 more women than men as lone parents in | |
their own household. Women are also more likely to go in to higher | |
education than men, often moving out to do so. | |
Under one roof: Keeping it in the family | Under one roof: Keeping it in the family |
Danny Cousins, 21, is a network manager at Garden Fields | |
primary school in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He is living in Luton | |
with his retired father, Mick, 66, while saving for a deposit on | |
a house | |
Danny says “I would be kicking myself in the teeth | |
if I was renting; I don’t have to pay my dad housekeeping so I can | |
save more money at home and hopefully move out sooner. | |
“It doesn’t bother me at all. It’s only a one-bedroom flat so I | |
sleep on a permanent sofa bed, but I’ve got simple needs and I don’t | |
spend much time there anyway. | |
“Now that I’m older and more mature, my dad and I are more like | |
mates than father and son and we help each other out. I think he | |
appreciates the company too, as he doesn’t see my other brothers as | |
often. | |
“We have a fairly easy going relationship and it’s never a | |
problem for my friends to stay over. | |
“Now that I’m in a secure job, I’ll be saving up plenty of money | |
over the next year and intend to buy, possibly on the Help to Buy | |
scheme.” | |
Mick says “I’m absolutely fine with Danny living | |
at home. It’s much easier for him to save while he’s here; if he | |
had to pay for food, rent and council tax, he would have no wages | |
left to save. | |
“There are no frustrations and he comes and goes as he pleases; | |
he’s old enough and ugly enough to do what he wants to.” |