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Recession means the boomerang generation keep coming back home
Jonathan Prynn15 Apr 2009
RECORD numbers of young adults are refusing to leave home and instead stay at the “hotel of mum and dad” for years to save money.
The growth of the “boomerang generation” is blamed on the high cost of getting on the housing ladder combined with having heavy debts, such as student loans, early in life.
Many of these “kippers” (Kids in Parents' Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings) are returning home after university of college unable or unwilling to find a home of their own and placing huge strains on the family.
Since 2001, the number of 20 to 34-year-olds under the same roof as their parents had soared by 300,000 to almost three million by the second half of last year, according to official figures published today.
The phenomenon was portrayed in the BBC sitcom My Family, in which grown-up daughter Janey Harper gets thrown out of Manchester University and comes back to the family nest with her baby.
Even celebrities are part of the trend. London-based pop star Kate Nash revealed in an interview last year she still did not have a place of her own aged 20 but admitted: “You can't be that rock 'n' roll when you still live at home with your mum and dad in Harrow.”
The trend is much more marked among men than women with almost a third of sons in the age group still at home. For daughters the figure is 18 per cent, according to the annual Social Trends survey. More than half of men in their early twenties are still at home.
A generation ago most children were expected to find a place of their own once they had completed full-time education.
The government report said: “Leaving home is a way of establishing independence and is an important step in the transition to adulthood.
However, young adults are tending to stay in the parental home longer than their parents did.
“A narrowing of the generational gap has led to changing relationships between parents and children, which can make it easier for adult children ... to remain in the parental home.”
The reason given most often for staying at home was “not enough affordable housing available” followed by “can't afford to move out”.
One in eight admitted their prime motivation was that they “want home comforts without the responsibility.”
Britons look east for holiday destinations
EASTERN Europe has become the fastest growing new holiday destination in recent years. Since 2003 the number of British travellers flying to Latvia for their holidays has gone up by 1,164 per cent, increasing from 4,000 to 50,000 trips. The second biggest increase was to Slovakia followed by Poland. Other increasingly popular destinations include north Africa, Hong Kong and China. However, the most visited foreign destination overall remains Spain (27 per cent) followed by France (17 per cent). The most popular British region is the South-West, accounting for 19 per cent of holidays within the UK. The most visited attractions with admission charges are the Tower of London (2.1 million visitors) and St Paul's Cathedral (1.6 million).
More mothers than wives
The number of young women having children has surpassed the number getting married for the first time.
Among those women aged between 25 and 29 more were mothers than had tied the knot.
There has also been a huge increase in co-habitation. For people born between 1966 and 1970 the proportion cohabiting in their early twenties was 13 per cent. But this rose to 20 per cent for people born between 1976 and 1970.
The average age for mothers giving birth to their first child has risen from 23.7 in 1971 to 27.5.
Train puts a strain on cash
THE cost of commuting by rail has surged by more than inflation over the past 13 years despite huge efforts to persuade more Londoners to leave their cars at home, according to the Social Trends survey.
Since 1995 rail operators in London and the South-East have increased fares by 51 per cent, compared with a 44 per cent rise in the retail price index. However this was less than the national average rise of 64 per cent.
The proportion of London commuters saying they are “satisfied” with their rail service has risen slightly from 77 per cent in 2007 to 79 per cent.
Reader views (6)
David, we are in a recession and many young people are losing their jobs, worried about losing their jobs or not earning enough to move out. I am 25 and would love to move out but just can't find a full time job that would pay enough.
- Louise, London, 16/04/2009 09:28
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Thats the parents choice.My kids have been told,once they finish studying,they can pick their packed suitcase up at the front gate and head out to the big wide world.
- David, london, 16/04/2009 08:07
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I'm so glad I don't have any children - lazy,
obstreperous, spongers.
- Lb, Bromley, 16/04/2009 05:54
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Staying with parents until marriage, indeed often starting married life with parents, was normal, expected when I was young. And that wasn't so long ago.
Unmarried children were expected to live at home and contribute to the family purse. Any unmarried person who wanted to leave home other than for a good job far away in the army or such like was considered to be selfish and ungrateful.
- Cam, essex, 15/04/2009 18:43
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Absolute rubbish. This generation of kids stay at home because their parents have spoilt them rotten all their life, willingly let their children sponge of them and wonder why they never grow up. make the kids pay their way and do their own shopping etc they will soon leave home, I DID.
- Den, London, 15/04/2009 17:42
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I can well understand the high house prices and not too hot wages of many young people, but no one should expect to stay with parents FOR FREE if they are earning even a small wage. And parents who allow them to do so are doing them no favours in the long run!
- Scots Lass, Scotland, 15/04/2009 16:26
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