Put-Upon (Grand)Parents
According to the Census Bureau, what percentage of young adults aged 25 to 34 are currently living in their parents’ home?
A. 6.5%
B. 14.2%
C. 22.3%
D. 41.9%
Answer: B
Gauging from the headlines or even an informal poll of your friends, you’d certainly guess that that number was much higher.
And perhaps it is.
I don’t know the Census Bureau’s methodology, but you’d speculate that adult children living at home may not exactly be conscientious about completing and returning census surveys (assuming the Bureau even knows where to look for them).
Or forthright about completing them honestly.
Ditto for their put-upon parents.
And there are certainly plenty of people under 25 or over 34 who now find themselves living with Mom and Dad (or their Mother and Father-in-law — sometimes with their own kids in tow).
Household Formation
What’s not in dispute is that the percentage of those folks is up dramatically in the last decade: in fact, according to the same Census Bureau, by more than one-third.
Why does that matter?
Given that there are approximately 42 million people between 25 and 34, a one-third bump in the percentage living at home translates into 1.512 million people.
That’s against a national housing market that sold a little over 5 million units last year (new construction accounted for about 400,000 of those, and existing homes the rest).
Increase demand for housing by 30%, and what do you think will happen to prices??
