Million 'baby' boomerangers' move back home

More than one million young people have moved back in with their parents in a bid to save money towards buying their own home, a survey showed today.

One in five 18- to 24-year-olds admit they have either returned to the family home or put on hold plans to move out in order to save towards a deposit, according to high street bank Abbey.

The group has dubbed this generation the baby boomerangers because of their inability to leave home.

The study found that it is not just young people who are being forced to swallow their pride and move back in with their parents, with an estimated 440,000 25- to 34-year-olds returning home.

A further 471,000 35- to 44-year-olds have also failed to fly the nest and are again living with their parents in a bid to save money.

Boomerangers are most likely to be found in the North of England, despite cheaper property prices there, with young people in the region accounting for a third of the total.

Unsurprisingly, there are also high numbers of young people living with their parents in the South East, accounting for 22 per cent of the national figure.

Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, director of Abbey Mortgages, said: "Millions of Britons have realised that sometimes you have to take one step backwards in order to go two steps forward.

"So while returning home or delaying your plans to move out might feel like a sacrifice, it's actually a great opportunity to save enough money to put down a deposit on a property of your own.

"This is especially important in the current market where the bigger the deposit, the better the mortgage rate you will be eligible for."

* ICM Research questioned 1,000 people during September.