Australian housing: How multigenerational living is effecting the property market

PHOTO: Grandparents Margaret and Jim, daughter Dana, and children Ava and Zach all live in a duplex together. Source: Supplied

More Australians are choosing to live with their extended family, for a multitude of reasons, and its having a broader effect on the property market. Here’s why.

Saving for a deposit, cashing in on childcare or rejecting retirement living – whatever the reason, more Australians are choosing to live with their extended family.

The ABS predicts the number of households with “other related persons” living at the one dwelling – which includes both older parents living with adult children, or grown children staying at home longer – will grow to around 800,000 by 2036.

Social demographer Mark McCrindle said the data also showed the average household size increased in the last census.

“And it’s not because of an increasing birthrate, because that’s actually declined a little bit over the last few years, it’s because of the increasing number of people per household. Younger generations are either leaving home later or returning back to the parental home,” he said.