If your grown-up child has moved back into their old bedroom, you’re definitely not alone. Across the UK, more young adults are returning to (or never quite leaving) the family home. It’s not a sign that anyone has “failed at adulthood”. It’s usually a very practical response to high rents, wobbly wages and a cost-of-living crisis that’s hit under-35s hard.
Recent analysis shows the proportion of 25–34-year-olds living with their parents has risen by more than a third since the mid-2000s. That’s hundreds of thousands more adults under the same roof as mum, dad and younger siblings. For many families, this “boomerang” move is what makes saving for a deposit, changing career or simply staying afloat actually possible.
The new normal, not a step backwards
The old idea that “success” means leaving home at 18 and never looking back just doesn’t match the realities of 2025. Wages haven’t kept pace with housing costs, and young adults are feeling the squeeze. A TSB survey found that one in four young adults say the cost of living has stopped them moving out of their parents’ home at all.
Seen in that light, coming home is often an act of responsibility, not failure. It gives young adults breathing space to pay off debts, build up a savings pot, retrain or ride out a rough patch at work. For parents, there can be unexpected upsides too. You will have another driver in the house, extra help with younger siblings, or someone to share the cooking. Bonus, it’s a way of having your adult child around for a bit longer.
When the house stops fitting
Where things often start to creak is space. The teenage box room that once just about coped with posters and revision notes now has to squeeze in a home-working setup, gym kit and maybe a partner visiting at weekends. Shared bathrooms and thin walls can strain even the most loving relationships.
That’s where companies built around a “we buy any house” model can come into the picture. Instead of tidying for weeks of viewings and crossing your fingers for the right buyer, you share some basic details and receive a no-obligation cash offer based on local market data.
If you decide to go ahead, they arrange the condition report, survey and legal work, buying the property directly for cash. Often in a matter of weeks rather than months. For homes that are hard to shift on the open market, or for families who simply don’t have the headspace for a drawn-out sale, that combination of speed and certainty can be a genuine relief.
A season, not a life sentence
However long your young adult stays, you should see this as a season rather than a permanent state. The goal is to work together on whatever comes next, not push them out the door. It could be saving for a flat, switching careers, paying down loans or maybe even moving as a family to somewhere that suits everyone better.
What’s clear is that “home” is doing a lot more heavy lifting than it used to. With the right conversations and the right help, multigenerational living can be less “awkward fallback” and more “team effort” to get everyone through a tough housing market in one piece.
