'Nine lives' of the future homeowner

Published 13th Jul 2007

The reported demographic shift to a low mortality/low fertility society is leading to the creation of new generations of homeowner, according to a report by Alliance & Leicester Mortgages...

Alliance & Leicester’s ‘Changing UK Household Market’ report undertaken in conjunction with think tank Centre of Future Studies shows that the fabric of society is changing in response to the developing political, social and economic landscape. As the population is living longer, people are spending more time at certain life stages and living in more houses than ever before.

Creation of the ‘adkid’ and ‘sandwich’ generations
The report predicts the creation of the ‘adkid’ – adult children prolonging their time in the parental nest. By 2026, almost 80 per cent (78%) of the adult population will have earned the title of ‘adkid’.

‘Adkids’ staying at home leads to a ‘Peter Pan’ attitude – never wanting to grow up – and being quite happy to rely on mum and dad for longer according to the report. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the age at which ‘Peter Pans’ leave home, get married, have their first child, and so the knock-on effect begins for future generations. For example, women now have their first child at an average age of 26.7 years, and by 2026, this will have risen to around 29 years.

The ‘adkid’ generation could affect older generations, because it is predicted that parents will spend less time being ‘empty nesters’ but more time in the ‘sandwich’ generation – having simultaneous demands from both their elderly parents (who are living longer), and the ‘adkids’ who haven’t left home yet.

Stephen Leonard, Director of Mortgages at Alliance & Leicester comments: “Our research demonstrates the appetite for moving will increase in the future as new generations of householders emerge, keeping the housing market full of life.”

According to the study, the traditional image of the nuclear family unit will metamorphose into the nine lives of the multi-generational homeowner by 2026.

Conventional householder life cycle
• Parental home.
• Marital home.
• Family home.
• Empty nesters.
• Lone widow/widower

Nine lives of the homeowner
• Parental home (rise of the ‘ad kid’).
• Renting with friends/students.
• Living loners.
• Co-habiting couple.
• Family home.
• Divorced/separated lone parent home.
• Step/’sandwich’ household.
• Empty nesters.
• Lone widow/widower.

Stephen Leonard adds: “Changing demographics and social attitudes will inevitably have an effect on the housing market in the future, for example, the number of times that people move in their lifetime, or the increase or decrease in the type of household they live in. These trends are predicted to change dramatically in the next 20 years.”

Looking forward to 2026, the report predicts the overall number of households will increase as a result of changes in the make-up of the housing market:
• More people living on their own .
• An increase in lone-parent households as divorce rates continue to rise in the future.
• Multi-person households increase as a result of the number of step-families and multi-generational households increasing.
• Marital homes decrease as co-habiting households increase

Source: ' Move Channel Ltd '

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