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Parents, local house prices and leaving home in Britain

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Bayrakdar, S 
Coulter, RC 

Abstract

Leaving the parental home is a significant step in young adults' housing careers and pathways to independence. Although a large literature examines how life course trajectories influence leaving home, much less is known about how the “linked lives” of parents and the local cost of housing shape young people's departures from the family residence. By enriching the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study with house price data, this study investigates how parental attributes and the geography of local housing costs influence home leaving in contemporary Britain. The results show that higher local house prices are associated with delayed departure from the parental home, although the relative magnitude of this effect is modest. By contrast, the effects of parental factors are more nuanced. Parental characteristics have little impact on the odds of leaving home to form partnerships, whereas the likelihood of departing to live alone or in shared accommodation is reduced by parental homeownership or living with both biological parents. Taken together, these findings suggest that young adults' residential pathways are shaped by the complex patterns of choice and constraint that are generated by disparities in family circumstances and local opportunity structures.

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Keywords

housing, leaving home, linked lives, living arrangements, parents, young adults

Journal Title

Population, Space and Place

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1544-8444
1544-8452

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell
Sponsorship
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/L009498/1)
This research was funded by an Economic and Social Research Council Future Research Leaders award (ES/L009498/). Additional financial support was provided by the Isaac Newton Trust. Understanding Society (UKHLS) is an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various government departments, with scientific leadership by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, and survey delivery by NatCen Social Research and Kantar Public.