- An increasing number of young Irish adults live with their parents.
- This can be attributed to the severe housing affordability crisis.
- Rents in Ireland increased by 84% between 2010 and 2022, far more than the EU average.
Housing has become so expensive in Ireland that young people are increasingly moving back in with their parents – or never leaving their childhood home again.
According to the 2022 Irish Census, 41% of people aged 18 to 34 live with their parents – an increase of almost 10% from just a decade ago. Among 30-year-olds, 20% were living with their parents in 2022 – a jump from 13% in 2011.
This is in line with rising housing costs. Rents in Ireland increased by 84% between 2010 and 2022 – well above the EU average increase of 18% during that period. The average age of first-time homebuyers in the country increased from 35 to 39 between 2010 and 2022.
The housing crisis is linked to a number of other broader social trends. Young Irish people are delaying having children or refusing to do so because they cannot afford it. The country's birth rate fell by 20% between 2012 and 2022.
Housing shortages and the affordability crisis have also forced many people into homelessness. The number of homeless people in Ireland has recently reached a record high.
As in the US, severe housing shortages, including a lack of income-restricted housing, are fundamentally responsible for rising costs. High interest rates and increased construction costs have made matters worse.
Ireland’s affordability crisis is in many ways similar to the housing crisis facing many other countries in Europe and the U.S. Demand is also outstripping supply in countries from the Netherlands to the U.K., resulting in rising costs.
And in southern Europe, a surge in real estate investment has driven up home values substantially in recent years, gentrification of demand driven citiesdisplacing long-time residents, and Preventing young people Countries such as Portugal and Spain are beginning to push back on policies such as so-called “golden visas”, which encourage foreign investment and help push up home prices and rents.