Woman, 43, sells home and moves in with parents due to cost of living

A 43-year-old woman has sold her home and plans to move back in with her parents due to the cost of living crisis.

Rachel from Bristol told LBC she had taken the "difficult decision" after rising costs meant she was working more just to pay the bills and mortgage.

She said: "I was finding I was working all hours, being quite stressed out from work and not having the time to even enjoy living in my home."

During the radio interview, she said she had had a mortgage since she was 25 but was now paying the rest of it off with the sale of her house.

She also said the rise in interest rates had influenced her decision as she was worried her parents would not be able to pay their variable-rate mortgage.

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Rachel added: "You’ve only got one life and we need to live it and I just feel like I’m surviving, I’m working and paying the bills."

The cost of living crisis has led to thousands moving back in with their parents as bills and housing costs became unaffordable.

The cost of living crisis also came at a time when many young people were staying home much later in their life as high rent and house prices made moving out unattractive.

The University of Essex's Institute for Social and Economic Research found that around five million adults are now living with their parents.

Calling them 'boomerang' adults the study found 15% of adults aged between 21-35 had moved back in with their parents between 2009-2020.

This matches a similar study by Capital One who said around one in five young adults have moved or are planning to move back with their parents because of the cost of living crisis.

The last UK census in 2021 found the total number of adult children living with their parents was 4.9 million, a 14.7% increase from 4.2 million in 2011.

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The proportion of the population that are non-dependent adult children living with their parents has increased across all ages from aged 20 to 73 years.

The University of Essex found the most common reason for people moving back in with their parents was they could not afford rent, wanted to save more for a deposit on a house, or the breakdown of a relationship.

They found the mental health of these people generally improved after the move.

Co-author Professor Emily Grundy suggested this may be because they are escaping the stress of poor living conditions in the UK’s under-regulated rental housing sector.

They noted high bills and living in a cold house can have a negative impact on mental health.