It does not come as any great surprise that Ireland has the largest households in the EU, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute. The State has long been an outlier in this regard.
However, the reasons for the persistence of the trend are a little surprising in so far as the chronic shortage of housing that has prevailed over the past 10 years is not seen as the major factor.
The ESRI research attributes the continuation of large households to the same drivers that have been at play for decades; the Irish population is relatively young and tends to have a lot of children by European standards. The cost and supply of housing is, however, also a contributory factor according to the ESRI. And there is little in the report to give comfort to the Government regarding its housing policies.
The ESRI research highlights the problem of young adults being unable to leave home due to the shortage of suitable rental accommodation and starter homes. The wider negative consequences of this are well documented.
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For a long time, Ireland sat pretty much in the middle of the pack when it came to households that included an adult child, according to the research, with rates hovering around 6 to 8 per cent. But the numbers increased rapidly since 2020 and in 2021 they were in line with Italy and Spain at over one in 10 families.
The suspicion can only be that the number of young adults stuck at home has since increased further, even if the international comparability of some of the data in relation to this has been called into question. This week, figures from the Residential Tenancies Board showed an annual rise of over 9 per cent in the cost of new rentals and a big fall in the number of new tenancies on offer.
The challenge, as the ESRI pointed out, is not only to increase the supply of homes but to have the right homes in the right places, including smaller units suitable for single people, couples and older “downsizers”. The shape of the population is changing and housing policy needs to reflect this.