Boomerang Kids – What’s that all about then? When I moved out at 18 that was pretty much it, if I visited home it was a mattress on the floor as ‘my’ bedroom was reallocated, or rather snaffled up as soon as the door banged behind me. It’s a different world now and the sink or swim generation has become the boomerang generation and return back to the ‘family home’ when once this would be sold and parents downsize and look forward to a restful retirement. Of course retirement has changed too and we also live longer and healthier lives, so much so we make ideal ‘free’ childcare as well as the worlds most generous landlords!

Hey, I’m joking! (…or am I?) we love it that our kids come to visit but haven’t they got homes to go to? The answer is often no. Property has in many places become unaffordable and often only the Bank of Mum & Dad can help. Housing is not only more expensive in the lush green areas of the city but close to transportation that will make working in the city etc. possible. It can be a Catch-22 situation that to be able to afford the housing one has to work in the city but the rent and transportation costs are so high that saving for a deposit on an apartment let alone a house is impossible. 

Becoming a young adult in this day and age does not always equate to living on your own. In fact, more and more young adults are returning home after college after failed attempts to live on their own, or they may have never moved out at all.

Often referred to as the “boomerang generation,” this group of young people includes roughly one in three Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census. This means more parents are faced with their adult kids moving home.

Leaving the parental home is considered as a milestone in the transition from childhood to adulthood. The reasons behind this step may vary: from being materially independent to studying, working, moving in with a partner, getting married and having children, etc. However, the path to independence may not be straightforward and may happen, as will be shown in this article, at different ages across countries. This difference may reflect the dissimilar challenges that young people face across Europe, as well as the variety of cultural particularities in the different countries.

In 2019, Sweden recorded the lowest average age of young people leaving their parental home (17.8 years) and Croatia the highest (31.8 years) with young women moving out  earlier than young men in almost all EU Member States. 

What age do most Americans leave home?

The median age at the time of moving out was about 19 years. (See figure 1.) Table 1 shows that the likelihood of moving out before age 27 was correlated with several individual characteristics. Women were more likely to move out than men were, and Whites were more likely to move out than Blacks or Latinos.

 

I remember something about the Bell Shaped Curve and averages from school. I’m thinking that if we assume this is somewhat skewed in that our kids don’t leave much under the age of 18 (See Sweden!) and in Spain the average is over 30 that we had better get used to having our offspring come home to stay, or not leave for quite some time and I think this is reflected in home ownership statistics where the average age of first time buyers is increasing and presumably will reach a point where one can’t secure a mortgage easily. Even if parents can stump up a deposit I understand most banks are more concerned with disposable income and the ability to repay. In Japan there are now100 year mortgages to promote home ownership where the home, encumbered by the mortgage, becomes an ancestral property and is passed on from grandparent to grandchild in a multigenerational fashion. Something to think about? That or start saving and cash in your savings, since we are likely to live longer we will need our pensions but maybe unlike the old days our children won’t be able to  an inheritance of any substance. 

It seems most parents are not prepared for this new phase in their life but like retirement (..can we afford this now?) it needs planning ahead. My kids are at university but that seems to equate to only half the calendar year and Hotel Chez Moi is pretty busy the rest of the time. Do I like them to visit? YES I DO….But….for how long? 

I think I had better get my thinking cap on, lay down some rules and banish the idea that they may have that home is forever…..or just move out! 

I’d really like some help on this one!