20 votes

Middle-class millennials aren’t leaving home

11 comments

  1. [4]
    JXM
    Link
    That’s basically it. Wages have been stagnant for 40 years while the prices for college tuition and housing have more than tripled...people just can’t afford to buy a house or even pay rent. It’s...

    Millennials, adds Spoonley, are the first generation to experience the widespread privatisation of costs and the “new precariousness of life in a modern economy”, with less job stability, more discrepancy between wages and living costs, and less access to cheap housing than baby boomers had.

    That’s basically it. Wages have been stagnant for 40 years while the prices for college tuition and housing have more than tripled...people just can’t afford to buy a house or even pay rent. It’s not rocket science. My wife and I were barely able to afford a house and we are only only people our age that we know who actually own a house. Neither of us makes an exorbitant amount of money, but we can make it work.

    16 votes
    1. [2]
      unknown user
      Link Parent
      Yep, being in a stable, long-term relationship is now a prerequisite to even considering taking out a deposit on a house. There's something incredibly wrong with that.

      Yep, being in a stable, long-term relationship is now a prerequisite to even considering taking out a deposit on a house. There's something incredibly wrong with that.

      10 votes
      1. Grzmot
        Link Parent
        Or living with someone who isn't in a relationship with you. Living alone is always going to be more expensive than living together. That being said, I don't know why someone who lives alone would...

        Or living with someone who isn't in a relationship with you. Living alone is always going to be more expensive than living together. That being said, I don't know why someone who lives alone would even want to buy a house. Apartment, sure, but those are (depending on location) more expensive than houses these days.

        2 votes
    2. stu2b50
      Link Parent
      I looked it up and it seems like income to new house prices have actually stayed roughly the same throughout the century. In 1920, and today, it's a roughly 3:1 ratio. Rent has gone up super high,...

      I looked it up and it seems like income to new house prices have actually stayed roughly the same throughout the century. In 1920, and today, it's a roughly 3:1 ratio. Rent has gone up super high, though. In 1920, average rent was $15 a month, with an average income of 2k per year, while today it's $600, with an average income of 40k.

      4 votes
  2. [2]
    anahata
    Link
    What I find noteworthy about this is that it's not just the US. It's happening in Europe and in New Zealand as well. I think this is the first time I've seen a report that millennials outside of...

    What I find noteworthy about this is that it's not just the US. It's happening in Europe and in New Zealand as well. I think this is the first time I've seen a report that millennials outside of the US are having problems, too. And yet again makes me incredibly grateful and humbled that I have a job in a field that pays me as much as it does.

    13 votes
    1. Deimos
      Link Parent
      It's absolutely impacting at least some areas of Asia very heavily too. Hong Kong is one of the worst places in the world for affordable housing now, and a huge number of younger people are...

      It's absolutely impacting at least some areas of Asia very heavily too. Hong Kong is one of the worst places in the world for affordable housing now, and a huge number of younger people are continuing to live in their tiny rooms in their parents' apartments.

      I'm trying to find some more recent data, but this paper from 2014 from Hong Kong's City University (PDF) interviewed about 1000 people from 18-35 in January 2013, and 76% of them were still living with their parents. If you exclude the 30-35 group, over 87% of the 18-29 year olds that they surveyed were still living with their parents. There's a lot more info in there about the occupations/educations/etc. as well.

      That was from almost 7 years ago now too, and from what I know it's only continued getting worse.

      14 votes
  3. [5]
    ubergeek
    Link
    As a early millennial with a late millennial adult in college living at home, I like the idea of a multi-generational home, honestly. If it were up to me, the wife and I would be moving into a...

    As a early millennial with a late millennial adult in college living at home, I like the idea of a multi-generational home, honestly.

    If it were up to me, the wife and I would be moving into a smaller guest house on the property, with the younglings living in the main house with their families.

    Not sure how my offspring feel about it, but they're liking it so far.

    12 votes
    1. [3]
      babypuncher
      Link Parent
      I hate the idea of living with my parents. I love my parents, but living with them would be miserable. The lack of privacy makes the idea a complete non-starter. On top of that, I rejected the...

      I hate the idea of living with my parents. I love my parents, but living with them would be miserable. The lack of privacy makes the idea a complete non-starter. On top of that, I rejected the religion they raised me with, so our lifestyles would be incompatible. I don't need them silent judging whenever they open the fridge and see my beer. Moving out was the biggest step I ever took in asserting my independence, and if I had never done that I worry I would never have fully learned to be self sufficient.

      19 votes
      1. [2]
        ubergeek
        Link Parent
        That's fair too. I give the adult young one as much freedom as they like, I just ask they let us know when they're leaving and home (So I don't deadbolt the door on them). And, if they drink,...

        That's fair too. I give the adult young one as much freedom as they like, I just ask they let us know when they're leaving and home (So I don't deadbolt the door on them).

        And, if they drink, please do it at home, only because it's illegal for them still, out of the home, which I think is silly.

        Also, we've never pushed any worldview onto them, as much as possible. Our thing has always been learn a lot about a lot, and decide for you.

        Basically, I treat the adult one as a room mate now, but do have to catch myself when I do treat them like a child (I quickly apologize too).

        I get this isnt the norm, though.

        10 votes
        1. stu2b50
          Link Parent
          Maybe that exceptional level of freedom is abnormal, but I think having an amiable relationship with your parents is not abnormal, where you'd be comfortable living with them into adult life. Just...

          Maybe that exceptional level of freedom is abnormal, but I think having an amiable relationship with your parents is not abnormal, where you'd be comfortable living with them into adult life.

          Just not so normal that it applies to everyone, especially with regards to entire generations worth of people.

          6 votes
    2. zigzagzig
      Link Parent
      This is very common in southeast Asia - I do the digital nomad thing and living in Thailand, Vietnam, etc. the family all lives next door to each other, or together.

      This is very common in southeast Asia - I do the digital nomad thing and living in Thailand, Vietnam, etc. the family all lives next door to each other, or together.

      6 votes