Hotel of Mum and Dad? Co-residence with parents among those aged 25–34

Key findings

1. The proportion of UK adults in their 20s and 30s co-residing with their parents has risen by over a third over the last two decades. Between 2006 and 2024, the rate of co-residence among 25- to 34-year-olds rose by 5 percentage points, from 13% to 18%. This represents around 450,000 more 25- to 34-year-olds living at a parental home than if co-residence were at its 2006 rate.
2. Co-residing is more common for young men than for young women, and rates of co-residence are particularly high among some ethnic minority groups. In 2023–24, 23% of men and 15% of women aged 25–34 lived at a parental home. Rates of co-residence were particularly high among UK-born Bangladeshi and Indian 25- to 34-year-olds, with 62% and 50% living at a parental home respectively. 
3. Among those in their 50s and 60s, having co-residing adult children is particularly common for those living in London, consistent with those young people who grew up in London being particularly likely to co-reside with parents. However, among 25- to 34-year-olds living in London, the co-residence rate is not atypically high (20% compared with the UK average of 19%), likely driven by the significant inflow of young people to the capital from other regions.
4. Co-residing is particularly common among those on the lowest incomes. Almost half of 25- to 34-year-olds in the bottom fifth by income are living at a parental home, compared with just 2% of those in the top income quintile. Co-residence can be seen as a transfer from parents to their adult children, allowing these children to avoid paying full – or any – rent and potentially to save on other costs such as heating. 
5. These patterns of co-residence by income contrast with the patterns of direct financial transfers made from parents to children at these ages. The share of people in their 20s and early 30s receiving a direct financial transfer over an eight-year period increases with income, rising from 13% in the lowest-income fifth to 54% in the highest-income fifth.
6. Increases in co-residence have been concentrated among those in their 20s and have tended to be higher in parts of the country that have seen particularly high house price growth since 2006. The largest increases in co-residence between 2006–07 and 2023–24 occurred in the East, South West, North West and South East of England. While London has seen the highest house price growth over this period, it saw only slightly above average increases in the rate of co-residence. 
7. Changes in the age, sex, education, immigrant and ethnic composition of 25- to 34-year-olds cannot explain the increased rates of co-residence and in fact would have been expected to drive a decline in the rate of co-residence from 13% to 12% between 2006 and 2024. Within this age group, the population has become more educated and slightly older on average, and a rising share have been born outside the UK. All these characteristics are associated with being less likely to co-reside at a parental home, so would have been expected to lead to a decline in co-residence rates.
8. Lower rates of parenthood and marriage and increased reported experience of ill health among 25- to 34-year-olds have coincided with the increase in co-residence over the period. Since 2006, the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds who are married has fallen sharply from 39% to 29%, and the proportion with a dependent child has fallen even more, from 45% to 33%. In addition, the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds with a health condition lasting at least a year has risen from 17% to 31%, with half of this rise having happened since the beginning of 2020. These changes have the potential to explain 2 percentage points of the increase in co-residence. However, the trends in marriage and parenthood may themselves be influenced by decisions to co-reside.
9. Taking the changes in marital status, parenthood and health status together with changes in 25- to 34-year-olds’ region of residence, age, sex, education, migration status and ethnicity can explain at most one-tenth of the observed increase in co-residence since 2006 (and probably less than this given that some of these trends will be partly driven by co-residence). Therefore, it is likely that other factors – such as the declining affordability of housing – have been much more important in driving up rates of co-residence.
10. We estimate that co-residers would be paying around £560 per month in rent on average if they lived in the private rented sector, with the highest average amount (£1,000) for those living in London. This coincides with patterns of direct financial transfers made: we know that those in London and the South East are more likely to receive direct financial transfers than those in the North East.
11. Those living with parents are likely to have some ability to reduce debts, increase saving or increase spending relative to if they lived in private rented accommodation. Having co-resided over a two-year period, rather than having privately rented, is associated with a higher likelihood of having a larger increase in financial wealth. Those who co-reside are 3.9 percentage points more likely to have accumulated more than £10,000 in net financial wealth over a two-year period. However, co-residing is also associated with a higher likelihood of seeing a large decline in net financial wealth, consistent with some people moving in with parents as a result of adverse events.