Kids taking longer to leave nest claims new research
LOS ANGELES: Growing numbers of adult children in Australia are living with their parents well into their mid-30s, with men aged 30 to 34 twice as likely as women to remain in the family home.
Census data analysed by market research firm McCrindle shows more than half of men and 43 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 and not studying full-time live with their parents.
McCrindle managing director Sophie Renton said housing affordability and cultural diversity were the likely reasons that more adults lived with their parents.
“We also know that the emerging generation are delaying their traditional life markers (eg marriage, age of first child), studying longer and later, and entering the workforce with greater levels of debt than generations before them,” she said.
The data presented to a conference organised by the Urban Development Institute of Australia, a property developers lobby group, also shows 22 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women aged 25-29 remain in the family home. Ten per cent of men aged 30-34 live with their parents – double the number of women in the same age group.
UDIA NSW chief executive Steve Mann said different generations often had no choice but to live under the same roof.
“It’s being done out of financial necessity because housing costs are so high due to long-term and ongoing undersupply of new homes,” he said.
Angus Collins said he had a “pretty good” living arrangement with his parents in Coogee. The 24-year-old, who studies and works part-time, does not contribute to household bills but has chores such as putting out the bins and washing.
“I don’t have to pay rent or really pay for groceries and I like living with my parents,” he said. “And it’s a nice house.”
He said he felt comfortable inviting his friends home and he said, “My girlfriend loves being here. She loves my parents.
“I’m pretty independent other than the fact I live here,” he said. “Obviously, I’m an adult and can talk to them about everything.”
His mother, Janine, said she was happy that Angus was still in the family home.
“I’ve tried very hard to respect that Angus is a young adult and should be living his own life,” she said. “There are no questions about where you’re going and what time will you be home.”
However, she said her son needed the occasional reminder about household chores. “That’s the bit when I feel like a parent and ask him to do something about his room.”
But she is happy to support Angus while he is studying. “When I was leaving home, university was free. There were unemployment benefits if you needed them.”
Renton said intergenerational living was the norm in some cultures and provided a “beautiful sense of community and care”
“If, however, we are only seeing a rise in intergenerational living due to the affordability challenge of the housing market then that is something that should be investigated,” she said.
Research conducted by the University of NSW’s City Futures Research Centre also found care, companionship and combating loneliness in addition to financial reasons led many adult children to live with their parents.
Senior research fellow Edgar Liu said men traditionally left home later than women because they tended to marry at a slightly older age.
Many people returned home after the end of a relationship.