SHAREHOUSING is no longer just the domain of university students and twenty-somethings, with new research finding 44 per cent of people living in shared accommodation are now aged 40 or older.
Australia’s housing affordability pressures are changing not only where people live, but how long they remain in shared accommodation, according to new research from Homerun and Flatmate Finders.
The Sharehouse Generation Report surveyed 3562 people living in or hosting shared accommodation and found the traditional image of the youthful sharehouse increasingly fails to reflect reality.
People aged 40 and over represented the largest age group in the study at 44 per cent, while those in their early 20s accounted for just 16 per cent.
For many, sharing is no longer a brief stop between leaving home and buying their first property.
More than a third of respondents – 35 per cent – had lived in shared accommodation for at least five years, while 18 per cent had been doing so for more than a decade.
Housing costs were a major factor, with 75 per cent saying the high cost of housing had extended the amount of time they expected to continue sharing.
Perhaps most tellingly, 69 per cent said that when they were 20 they did not expect to still be living in a sharehouse at their current age.
That figure increased to 78 per cent among respondents aged 40 and over.
The changing housing landscape is also reflected in attitudes towards home ownership.
Almost one-third of respondents, 31 per cent, said they never expected to own a home, while another 11 per cent believed ownership remained more than a decade away.
However, the research also revealed another side to the sharehousing boom – property owners increasingly taking in housemates to help meet housing costs.
