Barratt Homes surveyed over 1,000 parents with boomerang children living at home and found that 98% believe children over 18 should contribute financially towards the household. However, over half don’t actually charge their children anything.
Of those that do, their boomerang children are paying up to 90% less than the average cost of rent, bills, food and general living costs in the UK.
That equates to saving almost £500 each month and over £1,500 for those in London, compared to what they’d be spending living away from home in a shared two-bedroom apartment.
The hotel of Mum and Dad follows the bank of Mum and Dad. Not only are parents financially helping their children get onto the property ladder, but they are also now playing the role of landlord too. The research defines the boomerang generation as those aged over 18, who have returned to the family home having previously lived away.
To cover the cost of having their children living back home, parents outside London are charging their children a modest £55.92 a month in rent on average, plus £18.74 towards bills – not including food – which adds a further £21.54 to their total household contribution.
An additional one in five parents also charge their children for household toiletries like toilet roll and toothpaste, that they would otherwise use for free, which adds £7.10 to their outgoings.
This suggests the boomerang generation, living outside of the capital, are saving an average of £489.26 per month in total.
That equates to £5,871.16 in their pockets each year, which could help to pay off student loans and other debts, or pay towards a house deposit of their own.
That’s more than half of a 5% house deposit on the average UK property price* (£228,147), suggesting it would take two years of living at home to save the full amount – and that’s supposing boomerang children don’t put away any further funds in that time.
Meanwhile, in some areas of the country – such as Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester – children save more than £7,000, whilst parents in Brighton are helping their children save an impressive £9,195.48. This is due to only charging them 13% of what they’d be spending on rent and bills away from home.
In London, undoubtedly the most expensive place to live in the UK, that figure reaches a whopping £17,233.44, where parents charge a mere 8% of the average living cost in the area.
A further notable finding from the research suggests that higher income households – especially those with parents bringing home a combined £75,000 or more – request the largest contribution from their children despite having the most disposable income.
You can explore the research and results in more detail, here.
