Financial constraints forcing young adults to live with parents

An increasing number of young adults are living at home as a result of financial constraints, according to new research from Saga.

The report found around three million over-50s still have their adult children living at home with them, with the average age being 27.

Parents aged 50-54 are the most likely to be housing their adult children (32 per cent), while one in six parents aged 60-64 said they are still providing a roof over their children's head. Many parents thought their children would have left home long before this, but financial constraints have caused them to stay.

According to the research, more than half of adult children have had a brief stint of independence before they return to their parents' home, with the most common reason being finishing university. 

One in ten said a split from their partners and nine per cent claimed they stayed at home to save for a deposit on their own house. This could perhaps explain why one in seven of these returning children are aged between 31 and 40.

Unsurprisingly, London has the most grown-up children living at home, with a fifth of parents saying they still provide a roof over their heads. Children in the south-west and east Midlands are the most likely to leave the nest quickly, with only one in ten parents in these regions say they are still putting up their children.

Naturally, wealthier parents are helping their children get onto the property ladder as only 14 per cent of richer people have adult children at home. Less well-off families are most likely to have grown-up children at home (20 per cent).

As young people rack up more debt due to university fees, living costs and the poor job market, it is becoming increasingly harder for them to move out of home when they come of age.

Roger Ramsden, chief executive at Saga, said: "Encouraging children to start saving for their first home when they're younger could be high on most parents' agendas after reading this research. With so many children choosing to stay at home longer, it just proves that a parent's work is never quite done and that they will foot the bill for far longer than they originally expected to."

By Joe White