The Decision To Set Up Home Independently In Spain: Explanatory Factors

Abstract

Young people today are leaving the parental home; i.e., living independently at increasingly later ages. In Mediterranean Europe in particular, most males, and a large portion of females, continue to live in their parents home until they are into their thirties.

In the case of Spain, in recent years, a series of economic and social changes have led to a rise in young peoples uptake of non-compulsory stages of education, resulting in increasingly late arrival on the job market (with this extended education and also high youth unemployment), characterized by higher temporary employment rates and greater vulnerability in the process of joining the labor force than previous cohorts. As regards to living independently, despite a very large increase in housing stock over the past ten years, young Spaniards encounter increasing difficulties in gaining access to housing because of higher purchase prices and the structure of the rental market.

This paper will study the socioeconomic factors that have influenced the young Spanish population when deciding to leave the family home (i.e., becoming autonomous).