CANBERRA - Just when aspiring empty-nesters thought it was safe to clear out the kids' rooms, fresh data shows young adults are staying at home longer than ever.
The news for baby boomers gets worse, with Generation X and Y offspring likely to return to their parents within three years of leaving home.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics social trends report, analysing 2006 census data, showed 23 per cent of Australians aged between 20 and 34 were living with their parents, up from 19 per cent two decades earlier.
The odds of someone going back to mum or dad before turning 35 was rated an almost one-in-two chance.
Seven out of 10 youngsters who returned home did so within three years of initially moving out.
Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Townsville had Australia's highest proportion of new arrivals aged in their early 20s, the 2006 census showed.
- AAP
Aussie empty-nesters endangered
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