“Young people staying at their parents’ home is an increasingly common phenomenon, which reflects the growing difficulties of access to housing for new generations. “Realising the desire to own a home or obtain a stable rental has become a major challenge, especially in southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, which have very high rates of young people between 18 and 34 years old living in their parents home,” says the summary of the project coordination.

“It is not a question of these young people staying more and more at their parents' house, as if it were a problem, a cultural issue that was imagined 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago”, highlights Romana Xerez, coordinator of the project “Housing4Z: Housing, Well-Being and Inequalities in Southern Europe”, carried out by CAPP - Center for Administration and Public Policies, of ISCSP.

However, the researcher highlights, in statements to Lusa, this does not mean that the family does not have “a very important role, traditionally, in terms of promoting access to housing” in Southern European countries.

However, what is happening is that “young people from more disadvantaged groups and […] even from the middle class have less and less real estate heritage that is passed down between generations”.

However, the same does not happen in Northern European countries, where young people can leave their parents' home earlier because "there are measures to support them" in this autonomy.

Romana Xerez justifies the focus of the research on Generation Z, young people born between 1997 and 2012, because it is “a generation that has a very particular context, [...] of multiple crises, [...] of conflict in Europe, [...] of climate change, of energy crisis”.

These factors resulted in changes in the configuration of the economy, employment and also housing, resulting in intergenerational inequalities.

Younger generations – starting with the Millennial Generation, which precedes Generation Z – have begun to reveal “some disadvantages” compared to previous generations, disadvantages that “seem to be getting bigger and bigger,” the researcher notes.

At the same time, Southern European countries have experienced “a profound transformation in the housing market”, he notes, highlighting, however, that “the problem of access to housing is not just a housing problem”.

What happens is that “the income - housing expenses relationship is huge and has been increasing”, therefore “it is a broader problem”, which involves the economy and work.

“Owning your own home is not just about having a home, but also having security, an extraordinarily important financial asset in the present and in the future,” he recalls.

To respond to the housing crisis, the countries analysed adopted, between 2018 and 2024, 20 housing policies for young people, aimed at renting and purchasing their own homes the project reports, adding that Portugal was the only one to implement specific measures for student accommodation.

Romana Xerez highlights the “immense difficulty” researchers have in comparing housing policies for young people, due to a lack of data.

“Housing4Z” researchers – who interviewed young people about the constraints and opportunities they encounter – are concerned about the changes underway.

The project – whose final results should be known in the coming months – aims to offer “scientific evidence” on how public and private policies can improve housing conditions and promote social justice for younger generations.