ONE IN FOUR YOUNG ADULTS STILL LIVING AT HOME

Millions of 20 to 34-year-olds can’t move out

ONE in four people in their twenties and early thirties now live with their parents. The number of ‘ boomerang children’ has soared to 3.3million – 900,000 more than in 2003. It means many families have returned to living patterns seen in the 1940s and 50s, when children would leave home only when married.

Many of the ‘ boomerangers’ are trapped in the family home because of sky-high house prices and rents.

Often they have returned after graduating from university. Some still live with their parents even after marrying or forming a long-term relationship, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Its report also highlighted the plight of parents squeezed between looking after adult children as well as their

own elderly parents. The ONS found that 3.3million people aged between 20 and 34 live at home with their parents – 38 per cent more than 13 years ago and 25 per cent of the age group. The numbers exclude students who return home during the holidays.

young women were found to be more independent. Only 20 per cent live in the family home compared with 31 per cent of men.

For the wider age group – 15 to 34 – the number living with parents has gone up from 5.8million in 1996 to 6.5million, a tenth of the UK population.

Harry Benson, of the Marriage Foundation think-tank, said: ‘Many parents must be worried that their children are not flying the nest or forming permanent partnerships. Property prices have clearly got a lot to do with it.

‘But it may be linked to the return of conservative attitudes, rather than a property price issue, which would affect men and women equally. There is some evidence that young adults are becoming more conservative.

‘It may be that as couples delay marriage, and even cohabitation, young women who were previously likely to leave home in order to get married are remaining safely at home. While this may be a worry for their parents, it is at least avoiding the much greater risk of uncommitted cohabitation and subsequent family breakdown.’

The ONS report, which drew on the Government’s Labour Force Survey, said: ‘ Larger numbers of young adults tending to stay at home for longer may be explained by them staying in education or training for longer, delaying leaving the parental home as they formalise relationships and have children at older ages. also it has become more expensive to rent or buy a home.’ It said the rise of boomerang children had led to a corresponding increase in ‘multi-family households’.

This category, which includes childless couples, has grown from 194,000 in 2006 to 323,000 now. ‘Families in these households may be unrelated, or related in some way, for example a married couple with their son and his girlfriend,’ the report said.

‘Changes in the number of multi-family households may be because of older couples moving in with their adult child and their family, young adults who are partnered remaining in their parents’ household, and unre- lated families sharing.’ The boomerang phenomenon can be partly explained by changes in the lives of women, who now settle down and have children later in life.

They are also much more likely to have gone to university than earlier generations.

Their higher incomes have helped push up house prices, so that many couples now need two incomes to buy a home.

The number of 25 to 29-yearolds who own a home dropped from 55 per cent in 1996 to 30 per cent in 2015.