Topic: Housing Policy. By the end of the year, Zoya Fong and Saajid Khan hope to call themselves home owners. But for now the young married couple are living with Zoya's parents and her younger brother in their Googong home just outside of Canberra. Despite both working full-time, the fluctuating housing market and the rising cost of living means their dream of owning a home feels constantly out of reach. Zoya Fong and Saajid Khan are looking forward to owning their own home, but they hope their parents will live with them one day too.
The couple is among a growing cohort of adult children who are living at home for varying reasons such as saving for a deposit, for cultural reasons, and because they can't afford to move out.
For Zoya, 26, and Saajid, 27, it's a mixture of all three. Zoya's family moved to Australia in , and Saajid relocated to Australia from Fiji two years ago, about a year after he married Zoya. For the young couple, the current arrangement is not a one-way street; they hope Saajid's mother or Zoya's parents will be able to live with them in their own home one day. Full-time mum Missi Tsivili and her one-year-old daughter in Broadmeadows, Melbourne.
The research looked at ABS Census data as far back as , with a comparison of and survey figures showing the sharpest rise in recent decades. Report co-author Lixia Qu noted the Census captured data during the pandemic, but said it was likely the trend of young people living at home was "ongoing". She wouldn't be surprised if the next national survey, in , showed another rise. The high cost of housing is a reality Missi Tsivili faces every day.
The full-time mum, her husband, and their two children live with Missi's parents in a rental in Broadmeadows in Melbourne's north because they can't afford to live by themselves. While she looks after the couple's one-year-old daughter and four-year-old son, Missi's husband works in a factory, picking and packing items for distribution by a major supermarket. The cost of living means the young family is not able to consider leaving the parental home. Missi also keeps an eye out for cheap nappies, and no longer buys her preferred brand as it's too expensive.
