Soaring property prices have created a generation of “mummy’s boys” with a third of men in their 20s and early 30s now living with their parents, according to official figures.
The number of people aged 20 to 34 yet to leave the family home increased by 20 per cent between 1997 and 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics. It coincides with a period in which property prices rose sharply, prompting hundreds of thousands of young people to stay with their parents to save up to get on the property ladder. But while the trend affected both sexes, young men are two thirds more likely to be living with their parents in their 20s and early 30s than young women in Britain. More than 1.8 million men in the age-group now live at home – or one in three – compared with 1.1 million women, one in six.
The figures also suggest that many young single men who are unable to benefit from home cooking and washing because they work too far from home go for the next best option – and move in with another family.