Lack of affordable housing puts pressure on parents

The lack of affordable housing in Britain is increasing the emotional and financial burden on parents as their grown-up children can no longer afford to move out, new research has revealed.

A ComRes poll of more than 1,100 parents with adult children aged 21 to 40, conducted on behalf of the National Housing Federation, found that:

• Three out of ten parents (27%) have at least one adult child aged between 21 and 40 living at home.
• Two-thirds (66%) of parents with at least one adult child living at home say they are doing so because they simply can’t afford to move out.
• Nine out of ten (89%) parents with grown-up children believe there is not enough housing in Britain that people can afford.

This is increasing pressure on family life. While a quarter (26%) say having grown-up children living at home had brought their family closer together, other parents were not so positive. A fifth (23%) say having a grown-up child living at home has caused them stress and a further fifth (18%) say it had caused family arguments. Worryingly, one in ten (8%) parents say having a grown-up child living at home has caused them to fall into debt.

 

Parents in higher income brackets are more likely to have at least one grown-up child living at home. More than a third (36%) of parents with grown-up children with a household income of more than £30,000 have at least one of their adult children living at home, compared to a fifth (21%) of parents with adult children with a total household income of £30,000 or less.

 

More than a third (41%) of parents with at least one adult child living at home say they are doing so because the cost of living away from home is too high, while a further fifth (22%) say they are living at home while they save up for a deposit. 

 

Unless more homes are built, the situation soon could become even bleaker for parents with children in their twenties and thirties. First-time buyer house prices are set to increase by 42% by 2020, while rents in 2020 will be 46% higher that they are today. That means parents could be forced to look after their grown-up children for even longer as they struggle to save up enough money to get a place of their own.