Why Australian adults opt to live with their parents as 20 somethings
Every Thursday, Karina Lam, 22, closes her week with eight hours on campus in Camperdown, Sydney.. If she catches the train from central Sydney immediately after her physics class, she is typically home for dinner where her mom has prepared spicy honey chicken, her favorite Chinese dish. Lam lives in Liverpool, a quiet suburb in Western Sydney, and commutes to university via train twice a week, one hour each way.
While moving into a college dorm is an American rite of passage, Australians are more likely to maintain their family unit. Lam is one of the 40% of Australian 20-somethings who still lives at home with her parents, with no plans of moving out anytime soon.
As Lam completes her bachelor’s degree in Science and Education, she works as a student-teacher at an elementary school 20 minutes from her home. She views living at home while she completes her five-year bachelor’s degree as a “choice” that allows her to save money from her teaching job. “I think it’s good to live at home because you get to save the money and use it for something more important and bigger,” said Lam.
In Australia, living at home is far less stigmatized and is even seen as the ideal scenario for some households. “I’m not just sleeping on my parent’s couch,” said Lam. “And before you ask, I know how to do my own laundry.”
With student loans, and the increase in rent prices around central Sydney, which is where many universities are located, living at home comes with financial benefits too. “I can save that money and buy my own property. That’s my goal,” she said.
The average rent for a one-bedroom unit in Sydney is around $2,600 a month, with a 10% annual increase, the highest of any Australian city. Just like Lam, Daniel Biazo doesn’t see himself moving out in the next few years. “[The rent] is way too high,” said Biazo. “It’s impossible to move out.”
Saved income also allows him to invest in his hobbies. Biazo, 26, a physics master’s student, spends that extra cash on his guitar collection. He attends Macquarie University, which is a 20-minute drive from his home in Five Dock, an inner-Western suburb of Sydney located on the water. Living at home not only allows him to save money on rent but also means that he saves on food, by opting to eat meals at home rather than on campus. “I wake up and have breakfast with my family every day,” said Biazo. “If I have the option to stay with my family, why would I go anywhere else?
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