The proportion of young people in Europe living with their parents has increased, according to new statistics from Eurostat. In Sweden, it has almost doubled between 2022 and 2023.
What stands out is that we are the worst in the Nordic region, says Robert Boije, chief economist at SBAB.
In Sweden, the proportion of young people between 18 and 34 years old living at home has gradually decreased since 2019. However, between 2022 and 2023, the proportion increased from 12.5 to 21.9 percent.
From the spring of 2022, interest rates began to rise. Together with high inflation, it has affected young people's ability to buy a home. Moreover, we do not have a functioning rental market in larger cities where young people can get a rental apartment without a long waiting period, says Boije.
But the almost doubling of young people living at home surprises him.
With that said, a lot has happened on the housing market. In 2021, the construction of 70,000 rental and condominium apartments began. A lot of rental apartments were built with investment support, which was then withdrawn. This could possibly be a contributing explanation.
Stands out in the Nordic region
The average for EU countries follows the same trend as Sweden. Young people living at home have gradually decreased since 2019. Last year, the proportion increased marginally from 49.4 to 49.6 percent.
The statistics from Eurostat show that Croatia was the worst with 76.9 percent in 2023. Finland did the best, where only 16.3 percent lived at home with their parents. Next best was Denmark with a corresponding figure of 16.9 percent.
Sweden is thus doing better than the European average, but stands out in the Nordic region.
Denmark and Finland have a dual rental market. They have a part that resembles public housing in Sweden, but also a part with completely free rent setting, where young people do not have to queue for a rental apartment. Such factors can make Sweden stand out in a Nordic perspective, says Boije.
"More is built when the state steps in"
Marie Linder, chairman of the Tenants' Association, also points to the withdrawn investment support as an explanation.
From 2016 to 2021, the state distributed an investment support to construction companies. The support had a rent cap, which meant that there was a limit to how high the rent could be.
If young people are to be able to move away from home, it is such apartments that we need, says Linder.
Finland and Denmark provide state support for housing construction. I think this shows that some form of state housing support is needed. If you look generally at housing production, you can see that more is built when the state steps in.
