Elevated US housing costs priced out a record number of young adults from living independently in 2025, a report by News Corp's (NWS, NWSA) Realtor.com showed Thursday.
Last year, 25.2 million adults aged below 35 resided with their parents, exceeding even the coronavirus pandemic peak, the online real estate portal said. One in three adults of that age group shared a roof with a parent, corresponding to a 33% co-residence rate, compared with the 2020 all-time high of 33.6%.
"The adults living with their parents today are largely employed, and many hold college degrees," Realtor Senior Economist Hannah Jones said. "What's holding them back isn't a lack of qualifications, but rather, at least in part, a lack of housing they can actually afford."
The national median home listing price of $430,000 is 34% above 2019 levels, while the median asking rent of $1,673 is nearly 18% above pre-pandemic levels, creating affordability issues, according to the report.
"Twenty-five million adults living with their parents represents a generation of latent demand the market hasn't absorbed," Jones said. "This is a supply story, not an employment story."
The US is facing a deficit of about 4 million homes, a gap that has increased since the construction slowdown following the financial crisis in 2008. Had co-residence patterns from the early-2000s held, 4.86 million fewer young adults would be sharing the roof with their parents, according to the report.
"Every adult still in a childhood bedroom is a household not formed, a lease unsigned, a starter home unpurchased," Jones said. "The typical first-time buyer is now 40 -- that's not a coincidence, it's the math of a market that hasn't built enough."
Price: $28.72, Change: $-0.89, Percent Change: -2.99%
