For lots of young Aussies, buying a house has felt less like a milestone and more like a fantasy. Over the past two decades, soaring property prices have totally reshaped the way we live — think, more adults living with our folks, and a whole lot of us playing musical chairs with rentals (guilty).
First reported by The Guardian, researchers have now crunched the numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to dig into our changing lifestyles, like shifting household spending patterns and how often we’re moving homes.
Here’s what they found.
Young Aussies are living longer with mum and dad, not partners
The biggest drop in people moving house has been among 18–24-year-olds, which was over three times the overall national decline. According to research by the e61 Institute, this might be thanks to more young people living with their parents.
“Living with parents is a key factor in youth housing mobility because young adults rarely move while with their parents — roughly once every five years, whereas those who move out typically enter the rental market and move frequently — roughly once every two years,” it said.
So, why are more people sticking it out at home? Hint: it can be pretty big money-saver, especially if you’re trying to put together a deposit.
Between the 1990s and 2021, the share of young men living with their parents rose from 53 per cent to 60 per cent, while for women, it increased from 42 per cent to 53 per cent.
Plus, with fewer young people in relationships, there’s more of a trend toward living at home for longer, e61 research manager Nick Garvin told The Guardian.
“It is possible that housing costs are contributing to this drop in moving out with partners, but we are also seeing a general drop in the number of 18 to 24-year-olds that have a partner at all,” he said.
More people getting their own place
Turns out, many young people are doing something about that ol’ sharehouse life of fighting over who finished the last of the milk and didn’t clear out the recycling. Instead, they’re prioritising living on their own, with a shift from larger shared homes to small apartments.
Young people living alone comprised around almost a quarter (21 per cent) of all 25 and 34 years olds’ households in 2024. This was up from 15 per cent a decade earlier, according to KPMG analysis of average household spending.
Plus, they’re shelling out on furniture and other homeware to set up their new home.
“Ten years ago, young people were more likely to be living in a share house and so would be sharing a fridge between three or four people. Now those three to four young people each have their own place, which requires them to each have their own appliances,” said KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley.
Single-person households spent an extra $2,161 each year on applications and furniture in 2024, compared with 2014, according to KPMG.
It also found young people are spending a smaller chunk of their household spending on rent, as many made the move from shared housing to cheaper one-bedroom apartments.
But in news that will shock no one, 25-34 year olds are still shelling out more on rent than any other age group, showing just how tough it’s become for us to buy a home.
“We are witnessing the rise of ‘Generation Rent’, with saving for a deposit and servicing a home loan increasingly challenging, especially in our capital cities,” Rawnsley said.
Young renters moving homes more often
With rising rents and declining home ownerships, plenty of young renters have had to move around more often, according to e61 analysis.
The share of 25 to 44-year-olds shifting homes in the last 12 months is up since 2011, in line with the rising share of people who don’t own a home.
The rapid rise of house prices over the 2010s has forced younger folk to wait longer to save up for a deposit, Garvin told The Guardian. And with those hefty house price tags still ongoing, he reckons there could still be more young people moving often in the coming years.
“Renters move far more frequently than homeowners do, so that appears to be what’s driving the pickup since 2011,” he said.
So if you’re still crashing at your parents’ place or having to pack up and move for the third time in two years, it’s safe to say you’re not the only one. These bonkers house prices really do be changing the game.
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