Multi-Generational Households Reach Record Levels

Audrey Hoffer reports on an increasing trend in the housing market: more people living in multi-generational homes (defined as households including grandparents and grandchildren, or two or more generations of adults. Hoffer cites analysis by the Pew Research Center that uses Census data.

"In 2009, the last year of the Great Recession, 17 percent of Americans lived in households that were multigenerational," explains Hoffer. "This translates to 51.5 million people living in homes with either grandparents and grandchildren, or with two or more adult generations." 

Fast forward a few years, and that number has grown, according to Hoffer. "In 2016, the most recent Pew numbers, 20 percent of Americans — 64 million people — lived in multigenerational homes."

"This is a record number of people," says D’Vera Cohn, a senior writer and editor at Pew, as quoted in the article.

The multi-generational household trend opens several angles for Hoffer's coverage. There's the anecdotal experience of living in a multi-generational home, along with the development market that has opened in response to the demand for multi-generation living arrangements.

"Builders are adapting their home designs to create additional living spaces that offer privacy and separation for parents or college students moving back home, and ground floor suites for easy access for grandparents," says Kim Adams, director of marketing for the Brambleton Group, as quoted in the article.

Sources on both sides of the market expect the trend to continue.