'Boomerang' Gen Zs back with parents to save cash

Six years after moving out of her family home, Niamh Tickner has returned so she can start saving for a house of her own

Niamh Tickner sits in her childhood bedroom, adorned with stuffed toys, trinkets and pink floral bedsheets.

Now sporting a septum piercing, purple hair and a choker, the 29-year-old says moving back into her mother's house in Bournemouth was not part of her plans.

Dubbed "boomerang kids", Ms Tickner is part of a growing number of adult children who have returned to their parents' homes after moving out.

She says she can no longer afford to rent a room in a shared house because of the rising cost of living.

Ms Tickner has found living with her mum again to be "stressful" at times

Ms Tickner recently swapped seaside towns, moving from Brighton to her mother's home on the Dorset coast.

"I don't think parents and children should be living together, especially after you've lived independently," she says.

But after finding herself unemployed, with mounting debts and no ability to save money, she felt she had no other option.

In 1997, the most common living arrangement for an adult aged between 18 and 34 was being in a couple with children, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank. Now, it is living with parents.

In the Hampshire town of Fleet, life for BBC journalist Katherine Bett is similar.

The 30-year-old Radio Berkshire reporter has chosen to move into her mother's two-bedroom house to reduce her rent costs.

In order to live closer to her workplace in Reading, Ms Bett says she would only be able to afford somewhere "pretty rubbish".

Sue Bett says she was not expecting her daughter, Katherine, to return home

The average cost of rent in the Berkshire town rose by almost 12% between December 2023 and 2024, to £1,512 per month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"When people find out that I live with my mum, I always feel the need to defend or explain myself," Ms Bett adds.

The cost of rent across other parts of the south of England looks to be on a similar trajectory, ONS data shows.

In the 12 months to December 2024, prices in Oxford jumped by more than 8.5%, with the average private rental hitting the market for about £1,790 per month.

And in Bournemouth, rent prices near Ms Tickner averaged £1,330 per month - an annual increase of almost 10%.

"At the moment I feel like I probably will stay living at home because it's the most affordable way to save money," she says.

"I'd like to buy a house, but I don't see that in the my future for a while."

The government has been approached for a response.