A million more young people could be forced to live with their parents over the next decade to save enough for a deposit to buy their own home.
The insurance company Aviva has estimated that 3.8 million people aged between 21 and 34 could be living at home by 2025, up from 2.8m in 2015.
Rising house prices were making it increasingly difficult for young people to get on to the property ladder, Aviva said, citing a 52% rise in average UK house pricesto £279,000 between 2005 and 2015.
As well as having to provide a home for longer for their children, parents are also helping fund a deposit for a home.
The “bank of mum and dad” will help finance a quarter of all UK mortgage deals in 2016, with an average contribution of £17,500, according to a Legal & General report earlier this month.
Lending by parents to help their offspring buy a house will total £5bn this year,L&G estimated.
Between 2005 and 2015, the number of young people living with parents increased by almost 700,000, or 32%, transforming the makeup of UK households by making multigenerational living much more common.
Lindsey Rix from Aviva, said: “Multigenerational living is often seen as a necessity rather than a choice, particularly when adults are forced to move back in with family to help save for long-term goals like buying their own house.
“But rather than being an inconvenience, our report shows it is often a positive experience, with shared living costs reducing financial strain and the added benefit of constant company.”
When young people were asked by Aviva about what might prompt them to stay living with their parents or move back in with them for six months or more, saving for a house deposit was the second most common reason given, at 57%.
The most common answer was caring for an unwell relative, at 71%.
About 42% of adults said living in a multigenerational household would be a positive arrangement, rising to 66% of those already living this way.
Respondents to the Aviva survey said having other people around for company, cheaper shared living costs and more people to share chores were among the benefits.
About 12% of people already living in a multigenerational household said the disadvantages outweighed the benefits, compared with 21% of all UK adults.
Reference: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/house-prices-force-1m-young-people-live-with-parents