Why are more millennials living at home today than during the recession?
Job prospects are improving for 18-to-34 year olds, but many of them are still living at home.
More millennials are living with their families than ever – but it’s not from lack of work.
In a new study, Pew Research Center reports that although the labor market has improved for 18-to-34 year olds, many of them are still opting to live with their families, instead of getting a place of their own.
In 2007, right before the recession hit, 71 percent of young adults lived independently. In 2010, it was 69 percent. In 2015, that number has fallen to 67 percent.
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According to Pew:
“In spite of these positive economic trends and the growth in the 18- to 34-year-old population, there has been no uptick in the number of young adults establishing their own households. In fact, the number of young adults heading their own households is no higher in 2015 (25 million) than it was before the recession began in 2007 (25.2 million).’’
The New York Times reports that housing analysts have been hoping this would not be the case – millennials, a huge generation, are expected to help the housing market by buying their own homes.
“We need the millennials to start leaving their parents’ homes and start out on their own for the housing market to normalize,’’ Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics told the Times. “This is going to be a problem if it continues.’’
But rents are going up and students are left with thousands of dollars in student loans, a bad combination for young people trying to afford a new home.
There may be hope on the horizon, however.
A new report from real estate search site Apartment List found that 74 percent of millennials plan to purchase a home in the future.
The thing is that over 50 percent said they plan to wait after 2018, which Apartment List attributed to the fact that millennials are getting married later and their student debt is growing.
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