The changing face of Irish households
INTERNATIONALLY, average household sizes are increasing in certain sectors of the market. This is a throwback to the 1950s. Traditionally household sizes have been determined by the number of children in the individual family unit. But now multi-generational living arrangements are becoming commonplace with grown-up children living with their parents or vice versa. In the US, 19pc of adult children now live with their parents, up from 12pc in 1980.
What we’re seeing is both economic and cultural factors at work. The inexorable rise of house prices and rents relative to wages across the world over the last three decades has put home ownership out the reach of many of us.
In Ireland, there’s the additional challenge of trying to secure the necessary finance required to buy property. Add the fact that rents are up 40pc since 2012 and are now at significantly higher levels than mortgage repayments and you find that renting is beyond the reach of many.
An interesting statistic from the 2016 preliminary Census results is that between 2011 and 2016, household formation in Ireland has fallen behind population growth with the population increasing by 3.7pc while total housing stock increased by only 3pc, ie. the number of Irish residents is increasing at a faster pace than the number of dwellings to house them.
Figures released by the CSO also highlight the fact that we have returned to net inward migration (3,100) for the first time since 2009.
Other cultural factors are also coming into play. Many new Irish residents hail from parts of the world where it is commonplace for the family unit to be multi-generational. Both parents may be working while other family members — grandparents, siblings or other relations — look after the children thus cutting down significantly on childcare costs.
No doubt we’ll see further changes in the makeup and size of the household unit over the coming years in Ireland as the gap between salaries and the cost of housing becomes more and more significant.