Report: Nearly Half of Young Adults Live with Their Parents to Save Money — But They're Spending Big on Luxury Goods Social media use is a major factor in the luxury boom.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
Many young adults in the U.S. live with their parents to save money amid high inflation and real estate costs — but a lot of that money's going somewhere else.
Nearly half of all young adults (48%) between the ages of 18 and 29 reside at home with their parents, and their savings are fueling luxury retail sales, according to a report from a conglomerate of analysts citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau, per Fox Business.
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The data stemmed from a Pew Research Center analysis, USA Today, the University of Minnesota and a team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by Edouard Aubin.
Inflation increased 8.6% from May 2021 to May 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest 12-month jump since the period ending in December 1981.
The real estate market has also been rocky: About three out of every four U.S. households can no longer afford the monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home of $427,250 with a mortgage rate of 6.7%, per Realtor.com.
Only four in 10 young people living at home say their parents charge them rent, according to a Property Management survey in December, and nearly half of those who did pay spent less than $500 per month.
That's been good news for luxury brands.
"When young adults free up their budget for daily necessities, they simply have more disposable income to be allocated to discretionary spending," Aubin said in the report. "We see it as fundamentally positive for the [luxury] industry."
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Another major factor in the luxury boom? Social media use, the report found.
