More graduates are walking across the stage to pick up their diplomas—and then walking right back home to mom and dad’s house.
The share of recent graduates moving back into their parents’ homes jumped to 28% in 2016 from 19% in 2005, and the trend is more pronounced in areas particularly affected by the housing bubble of the late 2000s. Those areas include Las Vegas and Riverside, Calif., according to real estate site Zillow’s Z, -0.76% recent analysis of U.S. Census data, as well as perennially expensive cities like New York City and Los Angeles.
In Las Vegas, which had one of the biggest housing busts in the country, the percentage of graduates living with their parents rose from 13% in 2005 to 39% in 2016. Near the end of 2004, homes in Las Vegas were rising in value by nearly 50% each year. When the market collapsed, home values plunged by 62%, more than any other major U.S. market. In Riverside, Calif., the share of grads living at home jumped from 27% to 51% over the same period.
Elsewhere, Miami and New York City had the highest share of college graduates living with mom and dad in 2016—with 45% and 42% living with their parents, respectively— followed by Los Angeles and Philadelphia (38%), Chicago (34%). The lowest percentages were in Austin, Texas (13%), Columbus, Ohio and Denver (15%), Seattle (16%) and Kansas City (19%).
Over the same time period, the percentage of young college graduates likely to live with a romantic partner fell to 34% from 44%.
See: Why $1 million can’t buy you a luxury home anymore
Why are more graduates returning home to mom and dad?
Because getting a home loan for a young buyer has become increasingly difficult. In the early 2000s, lenders had looser standards and home builders were working hard to meet housing demands.
“Underemployment or more precarious jobs make it much harder to save up enough to move out,” Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas said. “When rents keep climbing and competition is fierce for the most affordable homes, living with mom and dad can be a good option to build up some savings.”
It’s increasingly difficult to save up a deposit, however. Rents are also on the rise, studies show.
This spring season is perhaps the most competitive home buying season since the Great Recession, because home prices are rising along with interest rates and a record low number of homes are up for sale.
Also see: Is this the most appealing housing market for young home buyers?
Millennials—the generation just older than recent college graduates—have found home buying to be particularly hard. Between staggering student loan debt and other financial obligations, they are having trouble saving for a down payment, according to the National Association of Realtors and education financing nonprofit American Student Assistance. As a result, they’re delaying purchasing their first homes for a median of seven years.
Young adults often get a lot of flak for moving back home after college, and are called lazy and entitled for this decision. But that’s not always the case. Some millennials use the opportunity, thanks to their parents’ generosity, to find a job, get situated and save money for their futures. As a result, when they do buy homes, they’re skipping the starter home and going for a larger house in the suburbs.
Generation Z—the generation born between the early 1990s and early 2000s—can’t wait to buy homes, even if at the moment they can’t afford them, according to a separate Zillow study, and that means they’re optimistic about home ownership and will save accordingly. Case in point: Nearly 100,000 members of Gen Z, or those 23 and younger, already own a home, with an average mortgage balance of $140,000.