The ‘Boomerang Generation’ needs self storage

According to figures released by the Office of National Statistics, Britain now has more twenty-somethings who have moved back to their childhood homes after leaving to attend university – the so-called ‘Boomerang Generation’ – than any other European country.

In December 2009, almost 1 in 5 graduates in their late twenties were living in their childhood home, nearly twice the average rate of Continental Europe. This is also a marked increase compared to twenty years ago, when the figure was just 1 in 8.

Overall, 1.7 million people between the ages of 22 and 29 still live with their parents, around 45% of whom fall into the older part of this age bracket.

Too few jobs and houses, too much student debt

This is happening largely because people of this age are finding it very hard to obtain good jobs in the current recession, and at the same time there is a shortage of affordable accommodation – particularly in London and the South East where rents and house prices have remained stubbornly high.

This is compounded by the fact that people are leaving university with increasingly high levels of debt: the average recent graduate now owes around £20,000.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that many people are seeing the opportunity of living rent-free back at home for a few more years – often with food, washing and utilities all thrown in – as an invitation that’s too good to pass up.

Young men in particular seem to find the lure of their childhood home comforts irresistible, as nearly twice as many male 25–29-year-olds still live with their parents compared to female ones.

How this benefits self storage

This social trend is likely to benefit the self storage companies, at a time when they need extra business to help combat the recession.

Young people are often surprisingly acquisitive, accumulating considerable quantities of clothes, gadgets, sports equipment, musical instruments, even furniture in just a few years of independence. Often there won’t be room for all this in the parental home, especially if the parents find it hard to get rid of things themselves.

It all has to go somewhere, so self storage may become a handy solution. What’s more, as many of these ageing parents will be already retired, or nearing the end of their working lives, they may well have the financial resources to pay for self storage, seeing this as a price worth paying for not having to house both the boomerang children and the entire contents of their student flats.

Not just former students

Moving back to the parental home can also be the fate of older children, who need refuge from the storms of life – half a million of them, according to Cosmo Landesman in a tragic-hilarious (and touching) article recently published in the Daily Mail. As a 50-year-old, he had to move back in with his parents following a divorce; he describes the grim scene: ‘My old bedroom had become a dank, dusty storage room packed with great piles of unsold books of my mother’s poetry, alongside dozens of huge plastic packets of my father’s incontinence pads.’

The clutter may take more positive forms: lots of parents treat the period after their children have moved out as a chance to make some kind of alteration to their house, using the empty space as an opportunity to install a fitness room or study – something they’ve always wanted.

When the child moves back in, space has to be made for him or her, with the knock-on effect that the parents may need to put some of their own items into self storage, again helping the self storage companies beat the recession.

Longer than planned

These are the kind of customers who are likely to remain in self storage for a long time, as the children often have no fixed time-limit on their renewed tenure at home, and most stay longer than they originally planned in any case.

Even once they’ve gone, the effort of getting back whatever went into self storage in the first place is too much for many people to contemplate, so their possessions are likely to remain there for a considerable time to come.

3 Responses to “The ‘Boomerang Generation’ needs self storage”

1. SelfStorage.com Blog says:

   May 12, 2011 at 9:39 pm

   One thing the boomerang generation has come to expect is automated billing via credit card. Everything from Netflix to the phone bill is paid without even thinking about it.

2. Matthew says:

   May 13, 2011 at 7:20 pm

   I agree with that living rent-free back at home for a few more years – often with food, washing and utilities all thrown in – sounds great but I am not sure it is what either the young person or parents want. It is probably more necessity than an invitation.

3. Student dorm Storage says:

   May 26, 2011 at 4:11 pm

   This is the nice concept to fight against recession by going with the self storage companies.