Hungarian young people have difficulties with moving out of the family nest

Although most young people in Hungary find independent and self-supportive lifestyle desirable, half of them lives with their family at the parental house until their middle- or late-twenties.

The main reason of this phenomenon is that they don’t have other choice. Uncertainty characterizes today’s youth. 10 percent of the population is unemployed, a huge amount of employed people are in unstable work status, and property prices compared to the gross minimum wage, which is around 100,000 HUF, are extremely high. The average price of a 40-45 square meters apartment in Budapest is 50-80 thousand HUF per month, depending on its location and facilities.

“We tend to follow South European customs in this comparison”, claims Murinkó Lívia sociologist, employee of KSH Demographic Research Institute. “In the Northern parts, young people leave the parental house in an earlier age. Housing conditions are much favorable in that area, so they have the opportunity to move into one of the numerous cheap maisonettes.”

A high percentage of young people in Hungary carry out academic studies. Since state-funded places decreased drastically in the last two years, the money spent on education also takes away from the finances which would be spent on housing otherwise. Most couples wait with moving in together until the end of their studies. The late relationship establishment affects childbearing, thus less children are born than the couples earlier planned.

A large part of the public opinion feels that parents don’t teach their children to be independent. Many people choose staying at home out of the comfort which the parental house supports. 41 percent of the 15-29 years old people don’t even want to move out in the near future. As a 28 years old man said: “It’s very good that they cook for me, so I don’t have to care about it. Of course I take part in paying the accounts. I would move out only if I went to abroad to work.” It’s an easier way for young adults, since the family members support them financially. However, 82 percent of them between the age of 19 and 25 are in need of this support. Almost three quarters of them don’t have money to put aside, those who do spare generally only 10,000 HUF a month.