Next generation trapped at home

Experts pointed to the soaring cost of housing over the past 15 years and the ongoing youth unemployment crisis as key reasons why the number of people aged 20 to 34 living with their parents has risen from 182,000 to 252,000 in Yorkshire since 2006.

The bleak picture is mirrored across the country, with more than 3.3 million young adults now living with their parents around the UK according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That nationwide figure represents a 25 per cent increase since records began in 1996.

National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr said: “Moving out and setting up a home of your own is a normal rite of passage.

“Unless we build more of the right homes at the right prices in the right areas, adult children will be stuck in their childhood bedrooms and parents will be unable to move on with their lives.”

The ONS report highlighted the sharp increase in house prices over the past 18 years when compared with the average income of someone trying to get their first foothold on the property ladder.

It said that in 1996, the average price paid by a first-time buyer for a property was 2.7 times their typical income. But first-time buyers now face having to pay a price for a home which equates to 4.4 times their income. Those able to do so have been forced to stretch out their borrowing further or borrow money from parents to secure a deposit – but many more have been unable to do so.

The Government insists it is doing all it can through schemes such as Help to Buy, which offers people with five per cent deposits a helping hand on or up the property ladder. The scheme has been credited with helping to prompt a resurgence in first-time buyers in recent months, with the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reporting numbers at their strongest level in six years.

But the CML stressed yesterday that low-deposit borrowing represents only a “modest share” of lenders’ overall business.

Meanwhile, house prices in Yorkshire have begun to surge once again over recent months after several years of stagnation following the banking crash.

Figures published by Nationwide this month showed the average house price in Yorkshire has risen by 7.4 per cent over the last 12 months.

Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said: “The risk is that if demand continues to run ahead of supply in the quarters ahead, affordability may become stretched.

“House price growth has been outstripping average earnings growth since the start of the year.”

The availability of housing is not the only factor behind the trend for more young adults to stay at home, however.

The ONS also made clear the increasing numbers of young people living with their parents has accelerated since the start of the economic downturn.

In 2008, around 2.7 million young adults were living in the family home, but by 2011 this had jumped to three million, and by 2012 the total was sitting at just under 3.2 million.

The ONS linked this to the recent recession, pointing out that across the UK those most likely to be still living with their parents are aged in their early 20s.

Last year, almost half (49 per cent) of 20 to 24-year-olds lived with their parents, compared with one in five (21 per cent) of 25 to 29-year-olds. One in 12 (eight per cent) 30 to 34-year-olds were living with their parents in 2013.

Crucially, the 20 to 24-year-old age group has seen the “most noticeable” jump in people living with their parents in recent years, the ONS said, up from 42 per cent in 2008.

The report stated that this rise “may be due to the recent economic downturn”, as research shows that the young unemployed are more likely to live in the parental home.

It quoted labour market figures showing that 13 per cent of the economically active population aged between 18 and 24 was unemployed during April to June 2008, rising to 19 per cent in April to June 2013.

The rate of young adults living at home varies significantly across the UK, with Yorkshire’s 22 per cent among the lowest in the country. Indeed, the figure is the same as in London, which has long enjoyed a large influx of young people coming to the capital for education and work opportunities.

In the North West, the figure is 27 per cent, while in the west Midlands it is 29 per cent.

The highest rate in the UK is in Northern Ireland, where 36 per cent of young people still live with their parents.

The ONS said young adults in Northern Ireland tend to follow a more “traditional” pattern of moving out of the parental home later, cohabiting less and marrying earlier.