Research published today by the ESRI has found that more than one-in-four young adults aged 25-34 in Ireland remained living with parents in 2019 – while Ireland saw the largest rise (23%) across 15 European countries in this cohort between 2015 and 2019.
Last year, Simon Community said that a Red C poll had revealed a trend of ‘hidden homelessness’ – where adults move back in with parents or couch-surf with friends and are not counted in official homeless figures.
The homelessness charity said that 290,000 people in Ireland might be impacted by hidden homelessness, and that the phenomenon was “touching the lives of notable proportion of the Irish population with 1 in 4 reporting either themselves, family, friends, or acquaintances affected by this”.
The ESRI report looked at housing affordability across Europe and found a “mixed picture for Ireland”.
“Affordability and availability concerns also impact the formation of new households – indications Ireland faces significant challenges in this regard: Ireland has the 4th highest rate of homeownership for households aged 40+ (just under 80%), but only the 10th highest for households aged under 40 (34%), resulting in one of the biggest gaps in ownership rates between younger and older generations,” the think tank wrote.
“More than one-in-four young adults aged 25-34 in Ireland remained living with parents in 2019 and Ireland saw the largest rise in this share between 2015 and 2019.”
The ESRI Research explored the housing affordability challenges faced in Ireland by comparing housing-payment-cost-to-income ratios for Irish households with similar households in 14 other European countries. This work was funded under a research programme with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
On average Irish households pay one fifth of net income on housing payment costs (either mortgage or rent payments) the report said – not out of line with those observed across Europe. However, this overall picture masks considerable differences across groups, the report said.
Elsewhere in Europe 20% of households face housing costs greater than 30% of their income, whereas the equivalent share in Ireland is lower at 15%, the ESRI found. But the share of households who pay more than 40% of income on housing costs is similar in Ireland to elsewhere (8%).
Irish mortgage holders rank 3rd highest for the share of income spent on mortgage repayments. Despite this relative position, few households pay more than 30% of income on mortgage payments.
The research found considerable differences between the rent-to-income ratios across income quintiles in Ireland.
Compared to their European peers, those in the lowest income quintile in Ireland spend less on rent as a proportion of their income (26 vs 36% of income).
“Extensive rental supports in Ireland have had a clear impact in sheltering lower income households from more significant affordability pressures,” the ESRI said.
“However, middle-to-higher income renters in Ireland are more likely to face high housing costs than their European counterparts: 14% of renters in the 4th income quintile in Ireland pay more than 30% of income on rent versus 3% on average elsewhere,” the research found.
“16% of renters in the 3rd income quintile in Ireland pay more than 30% of income on rent versus 9% on average elsewhere. More than half of private sector renters not in receipt of housing supports in Ireland fall within these income bands.”
The gap between rents paid in rural areas and that paid in urban areas was also larger in Ireland according to the data.
Commenting on the report, author Rachel Slaymaker of the ESRI stated:
“While elsewhere in Europe rising affordability pressures have been primarily concentrated amongst the lowest income rental households, in Ireland extensive rental supports have mitigated the effects for these households. However, in the market price rental sector, affordability pressures remain elevated and middle-to-higher income renters in Ireland face greater affordability pressures than similar households in Europe.”