House prices and mortgage costs: Why adult kids can’t leave home

Energy prices rising, rents soaring at 9% a year, house prices at – or close to – record highs: it is easy to see why more people are still living in the family home in their 20s.

That is particularly true of adult sons still living with their mums. But does it work?

“He pays us rent. He’s as good as gold. He’s contributing to the household,” says Anne Thompson, about her son Will. But he’s not perfect.

“I’m still doing his washing.”

For his part, Will, who is approaching his 25th birthday, says living with his mum works. However, he would love to move out and move on but prices are too high where they live in Cornwall.

“I want to do my own thing but Covid didn’t do us any favours,” he says. He looked at one flat just before the pandemic, only to find the rent had tripled following the lockdowns that made coastal and rural properties more popular.