The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds living with their parents has risen by more than a third in less than two decades, research has found.
About 450,000 more young adults are now in the family home compared to 2006 – and it is especially evident among men and those in their late 20s.
The trend has been fuelled by increases in rents and house prices with young people often moving home so they can save more money, according to a study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
However, researchers also found that those living with parents are more likely to have seen ‘large declines in net wealth’ – and move back in with mum and dad following breakups or redundancies.
The study – titled Hotel of Mum and Dad? – found that the proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds living with their parents increased from 13 per cent to 18 per cent between 2006 and 2024.
This figure hit a peak of 21 per cent during the Covid pandemic before falling back slightly after lockdown restrictions were eased, researchers said.
Meanwhile the share of 25 to 29-year-olds living at a parental home increased from 20 per cent to 28 per cent in the same time frame – suggesting the age that people traditionally flee the nest is rising.
Bee Boileau, a research economist at IFS, said the ‘substantial increase’ in the proportion of young adults living with their parents has largely been ‘fuelled by increases in rents and house prices’.
‘For some, living with parents provides an opportunity to build up savings more quickly than if they were renting – which is an especially valuable advantage in high-cost places like London,’ she said.
‘However, others are likely to be living at a parental home due to a bad shock of some kind – such as the end of a relationship or a redundancy – or simply because they cannot afford to live independently.’
Researchers found that some people are opting to live with parents to ‘save on rent and accumulate savings more quickly’, while for others moving back in with mum and dad ‘looks like a response to a negative event’.
They estimate that young people living in a parental home would otherwise be paying £560 per month on average if privately renting – with this rising to £1,000 per month in London.
Some 14 per cent of young adults living with their parents saved more than £10,000 over a two-year period, equal to an additional £400 each month. This rate is more than a third higher than similar young adults who are living in private rented accommodation, according to the research.
Increases in the rate of 25 to 34-year-olds living with their parents have been larger in areas with higher house prices. The largest increases occurred in the South West, where the rate rose by 58 per cent, and the East of England, where it rose by 56 per cent.
Parents in their 50s and 60s who live in London, which has the highest house prices in the country, are particularly likely to have adult children living with them, the research found.