Report: Almost half of Toronto millennials live with their parents

Sep 29 2017, 8:28 pm

A new study has found that 47.4% of millennials in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) live at home with their parents.

According to the University of Waterloo report, GenY at Home, it’s the high cost of housing, debt, and job instability that’s causing the city’s youth to stay at home.

For the study, the university surveyed 721 young adults residing in the Peel, Toronto and York regions through an online system. The survey found that 79.2% of youth are living with parents to save money. “Economic constraints such as low income, a high cost of living, and soaring housing prices are reasons for why young adults live at home in the Greater Toronto Area,” reads the report, which is no surprise as Toronto’s real estate market is one of the highest in the world currently.

GenY at Home/University of Waterloo

“In the face of precarious work and widespread economic insecurity, parental help offers a chance to save for a house or take on an unpaid internship, which gives people living at home an advantage over those who are living on their own,” said Nancy Worth, the report’s author and geography professor at Waterloo.

The university’s report also highlighted that in the GTA, young people are living at home because of cultural reasons, where adults living at home is not a new phenomenon.

According to the study, co-residence is just about sharing physical space for some, while for others, living with parents means actively being part of a close intergenerational family, sharing domestic work and spending time together.

“Living with parents into your late twenties or early thirties has become a new normal for young adults in the GTA,” said Worth.  “As we increasingly recognize the challenges of insecure work and high housing costs, living at home is more often seen as smart, strategic and lucky, as not everyone has this opportunity”.

And, really, this is why our generation is able to afford avo-toast.

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