If your millennial child is still living in your basement, better be prepared for the long haul. According to a Zillow report, nearly one in four millennials are still living with their mother. In analyzing U.S. Census data from 2005 to 2016, the real estate database company zoned in on families that include a mother and a younger resident between ages 24 and 36, living in the country’s 50 largest metros. The study revealed that across the country, an average 23 percent of millennials don’t have to go much further than down the hall to see their mothers, USA Today reports.
While the Netflix-watching, social media-loving generation has become the butt of many a joke over the years, the truth is that millennials may be opting to live at home simply because they can’t afford to move out. Housing prices are increasing faster than their wages all over the country. According to The Mercury News, a median-priced home in San Jose, Sunnyvale, or Santa Clara, California, will cost buyers $1.27 million. Homes that cost less than $1 million are harder and harder to come by in the competitive real estate market of the San Francisco Bay Area. In Honolulu, Hawaii, which is one of the hottest housing markets in the world, a median-priced dwelling is $760,600. In Boulder, Colorado, where the median household income is $74,615, buyers will pay $546,000 for a median-priced abode.
Further, many recent college graduates are still paying off student loan debt. According to the National Association of Realtors, more than four out of five people between the ages of 22 and 35 who aren’t yet homeowners and have loan debt, blame their student loans as the primary reason why they haven’t bought a house. With so much student debt to pay off, adding a mortgage payment to the equation may seem inadvisable, especially when mom has a perfectly good basement that isn’t being used.
The percentage of millennials still living with their parents does vary depending on the metro. In Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33.4 percent of millennials still with their mothers. In Houston, it’s 22.3 percent, and in Dallas-Fort Worth, 19.7 percent live at home. So if you’re a parent who is hoping for your son or daughter to move out soon, you might have a little longer to wait.
