Swedes want their adult children out of the house

It would be interesting to know what the 7 of 10 demographic, studied during gymnasium.

We have the same problem in Britain, Immigrants take what spare housing there is.

Young people have a massive problem to get an affordable place to live, in London it's simply impossible !

@calebian22; Indeed it would. It would also be interesting to know if any statistics are available as to the political proclivities of these stay-at-home "kids" are. Hence a story such as the one above can be bewilderingly misleading.

This is mainly a city problem - in many rural kommuns you could walk into the housing company today and be in a new apartment by next week. My kommun demolished 80 council apartments (very nicely located) a few years ago as they could not find enough renters.

However in the big cities such as Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Lund etc there are major shortages

It comes down again to the fact that there is no proper rental market in Sweden. Why would someone want to build a house to rent out when you cannot even set the rent you want?

(by the way also the reason for the often terrible condition you read about of Hyresrät).

In no other country I have been there is this ridiculous rental property shortage.

And there seem to be not a lot shared accommodations students live in. Where I come from most students live together in a flat of 4 or 3 people and share the kitchen and bathroom. From Swedish friends I heard this is not common here.

This isn't a situation unique to Sweden, so Swedish policies aren't directly to blame, per se. Certainly the fact that the Swedish government hasn't done anything to solve this problem could be seen as Swedish policies failing, especially in a country such as this that gives a lot more trust and resources to government to solve problems than many other countries.

But everywhere I've been, no matter the government policies or the local culture or the economic system, young adults are having a much harder time moving out and living on their own than their parents' and grandparents' generations. I'm 21 and all of my friends around my age who moved out around 18 or 19 are now back at their parents after a stint on their own failed... the main reasons for failing are the fact that the cost of living is a lot higher and the wages people get paid are a lot lower than they were thirty or twenty years ago. These people are keeping their two jobs plus going to college part time (some full time) and still having to move back in with their parents to make ends meet.

I think Puffin makes a good point, though... Sweden has a ton of housing and room in the countryside. It's a pity that most Swedes are obsessed with ilving in the bigger cities because they are missing out on the vast majority of their country. But on the other hand, who can blame them when this is such a conservative and overregulated society? The distractions, hustle and bustle, bohemian options and anonymity of the cities makes people feel freer and that's one of the reasons Swedes are so attracted to cities rather than smaller or even medium-sized Swedish towns.

Kick them out at 20 years of age and don't let them back in. The experience will help them mature. They will become hard working responsible people who benefit society.

@Hagen :We have the same problem in Britain, Immigrants take what spare housing there is.

Your xenophobic manner of addressing issues whatever they are make it impossible for you to have inner peace...

Are you in anyway DEPRESSED or just acting Hagen all the time?

Get a life

Housing market is usually under heavy regulations everywhere. It must be some restrictions that are preventing the construction of more houses to have that chronical shortage. Many well intended policies have bad results.

@Gretchen: This is definitely not unique to Sweden. It's a huge issue in parts of California as well. Trying to find a place to live anywhere around the Berkeley area, even in the 80s, was a nightmare. It's still frighteningly bad in the Bay Area, and increasingly what is available is flatly unaffordable for anyone without a very well paying job. Vienna is also notoriously bad...so bad, the joke is that giving up one's apartment to move in with someone is considered a much bigger sign of commitment than actually getting married.

@Mr. Puppy: I think the reason most people prefer to live in bigger cities in Sweden is the availability of jobs, just like in much of the rest of the world. Living somewhere in the middle of the countryside would be great, but then we'd also be unemployed, which would not exactly be ideal.

This is also a phenomenon in some parts ofthe USA, due to poor economic situation. It is not an immigrant problem! Use to be, Americans are the most mobile people, but the young adults are having a hard time finding good enough paying jobs to support themselves or are fired or are underemployed. Also, some of the retirees are now

going after the same jobs.

True, the housing cost is a big issue, specially in cities like San Francisco, Boston, etc.

It is not a unique Swedish problem.

Failure to launch problem in Swedish young adults. Interesting.