Nearly 500,000 adults aged 35 to 44 moved back into their parents' home in the past year, research reveals today. Devastated by the recession and rising rates of relationship breakdown, many had no option but to return to mother.
The trend has led to them being dubbed the 'boomerang generation'.
In total there are nearly two million men and women living in Britain who have been forced to go back home.
The majority - around one million - are aged between 18 and 24, and have either returned home in the last 12 months, or have delayed plans to move out.
Many will be university graduates who have traditionally moved back in with their parents before setting up their own home.
But it is not just the young who are staying with their parents for longer than they had hoped, the research by Abbey shows.
The bank says there are around 440,000 between the ages of 25 to 34 and a further 471,000 between the ages of 35 to 44 who have been forced to return home.
The research raises fears about the impact of the 'boomerangers' on their parents' finances.
On average, parents have about £11,900 in cash savings, but the money is rapidly disappearing since their children moved back in.
Over the past year, they have typically withdrawn about a fifth of their savings, around £2,100, which they blame on the rising cost of living and 'unexpected' expenses - such as their children returning home.
An Abbey spokesman said: 'The return of grown-up children to the family home can be a shock for parents who have no doubt become used to the quiet life.
'While many parents can live with more noise and a bigger laundry pile, many may be unprepared for the financial impact of their return home.'
The spokesman added that many parents wrongly assume the huge expense of having children only lasts for the first two decades of their lives.
Many grown-up children would love to escape their parents' home to buy their own, but simply cannot afford to do so.
The average price of a home in England and Wales is £161,554, and the cost is rising - up 0.9 per cent last month, according to figures published yesterday by the Land Registry.
Rising house prices are partly to blame for the amount of middle-aged people moving homeDespite the property crash during the recession, homes in many parts of the country are still cripplingly expensive.
The number of properties bought for more than £1million has shot up by 35 per cent over the past year to 512 in September alone.
Matt Hutchinson, director of the flat and house-share website Spareroom.co.uk, said the over-35s are his fastest growing group of customers - particularly as lenders are providing far fewer mortgages.
'This trend is likely to continue until house prices become more affordable or mortgage lenders relax their lending criteria,' he added.
'These days, landlords are just as likely to have a house full of over 30-something flat sharers as they are a group of university students. The UK is moving towards a nation of renters.'
Debt experts also warn the number of Britons expected to be plunged into insolvency will hit an all-time record of 150,000 next year, a 15 per cent rise on this year.
The majority will be men aged between 26 to 45, and many will be left with no option but to move back to their parents' home, according to the research from the accountants RSM Tenon.
Mark Sands, head of bankruptcy at the firm, said it is not necessarily losing their job which tips them over the edge, but losing overtime pay or their bonus.
He said: 'If you've got £50,000 of debt on your credit card and you've lost one of your shifts then you are going to hit the end of the line.'
The number of insolvency casualties will pick up next year, as there is usually a time lag between the start of a recession and people losing the battle with their finances.
The Government recently published a 16-page guide called the Parent Motivators, which is aimed at helping parents cope with twenty-somethings living at home.
The guide, which critics say is another example of the nanny state interfering in adults' lives, includes tips about how to get rid of children who parents would prefer to have moved out.
It claims being 'too supportive' is a mistake, adding: 'Sometimes, it really is necessary to show tough love. If you are making life too comfortable at home, why would they get a job?
'If you are providing free board and lodgings, a well-stocked fridge, washing and ironing done, plus an allowance, there's not much drive there. So cut back to help increase their motivation.'
source: dailymail