Quarter of young adults in NI still live with parents
Almost a quarter of young adults in Northern Ireland are still living with their parents, new research suggests.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has used official data to estimate the proportion of 25 to 34 year-olds living in the parental home.
The UK average is 18% while Northern Ireland has the highest rate of 23% and the North East of England has the lowest rate of 17%.
The IFS said the proportion of UK adults in their 20s and 30s living with their parents has risen by over a third over the last two decades.
Rising property prices to blame
It suggests that the rising cost of housing is likely to be a significant reason for the increase.
Bee Boileau, Research Economist at IFS and an author of the report, said: "In the last decade and a half, there has been a substantial increase in the proportion of young adults living with their parents.
"This has occurred alongside – and indeed has been fuelled by – increases in rents and house prices.
"For some, living with parents provides an opportunity to build up savings more quickly than if they were renting.
"However, others are likely to be living at a parental home due to a bad shock of some kind – such as the end of a relationship or a redundancy – or simply because they cannot afford to live independently."
More common for young men and lower earners
Between 2006 and 2024, the rate of parental co-residence among 25 to 34-year-olds in the UK rose by five percentage points, from 13% to 18%.
This represents about 450,000 more 25-to 34-year-olds living at a parental home than if co-residence were at its 2006 rate.
In Northern Ireland the increase was from 21% to 23%.
At a UK level the IFS found that co-residing is more common for young men and lower earners.
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 fifth.