Five years after the Great Recession, millennials are finally starting to move out of their parents’ homes – but not into their own places. The percentage of adults ages 18-34 living with their parents dipped to 31.1 percent last year, the second consecutive decline from a high of 31.6 percent in 2012, according to a Trulia analysis of Census data released by the real estate website yesterday.
However, the headship rate – or the percentage of young adults forming their own households – did not increase, and neither did the homeownership rate.
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Instead of renting or buying their own homes, young adults are increasingly moving into households headed by their siblings or other relatives, writes Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko.
Part of the reason millennials aren’t buying is because they can’t afford to: Home prices are on the rise again in many areas, and even young people with good jobs often have to consider student loan payments when deciding whether or not they can afford to take on a mortgage.
The inertia of young adults, who have historically been more mobile than older generations, and an increasing desire among baby boomers to stay put has been a roadblock for American mobility rates, which have declined for every age group.
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Last year, 11.7 percent of Americans moved, near the all-time low of 11.7 in 2011, according to a separate analysis released by Trulia today. The mobility rate has remained stubbornly low, despite an increase in job opportunities and a decrease in underwater homeowners.
A continued economic recovery should lead to more people moving for jobs or because they’ve finally amassed enough equity in their homes to do so, Kolko writes. “Yet, rising home prices and higher mortgage rates might mean that more people move in search of cheaper, rather than new or better, housing.”
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