DUBLIN / CASTLEBLAYNEY A slightly battered balloon with a smiley face floats next to the front door of the semi-detached house. It’s a memory of the housewarming party from a month ago.
A 23-year-old opens the door Sarah McGuinness, who works as an assistant news manager in an Irish business magazine. The job is permanent, and he has a good salary for his age.
Still, he moved in for the first time in his life on his own only this spring – and considers the opportunity to do so a stroke of luck.
– All my friends from Dublin live with their parents. I’m the exception. It’s quite strange that a 23-year-old who doesn’t live at home is an exception, says McGuinness.
In Ireland, the majority of McGuinness’s age group live with their parents. 2022 census according to 61 percent of 20-24-year-olds lived with their parents. About a third of the 25–29-year-olds lived with their parents. The shares have clearly grown since 2011.
The difference to Finland is clear. According to Statistics Finland, 21.3 percent of 20-24-year-olds lived with their parents in 2022. Of the slightly older, 25-29-year-olds, 7.4 percent lived in their parents’ homes.
McGuinness is now renting a room in a semi-detached house. One of the roommates is his good friend. They moved into the house at the same time after hearing about free rooms from an acquaintance.
McGuinness was not actively looking for a home because he found the low supply so depressing. However, he saved money for himself for the move, especially for the guaranteed rent.
Rents are high in Dublin. A recent report according to the new tenants in Dublin pay an average of nearly 2,100 euros in rent. Many may live with their parents to save money to buy their own apartment.
According to McGuinness, it’s great when you can manage on your own and have your own space. When living with his parents, he sometimes regressed into a brat-like version of himself, he says. The kind who complains that someone has taken over the shower again. The fact that the big brother lived under the same roof didn’t make it any easier.
Listen to McGuinness’s thoughts on moving in on the video:
McGuinness hopes to have his lease extended in the fall. If that doesn’t work out, he tries to find a new home of his own. Or he goes abroad, where several of his friends are moving.
The economic crisis that started in 2008 is still haunting
The Irish economy suffered a severe crisis in 2008. The financial crisis severely shook the housing market, and construction has still not reached a sufficient pace in relation to demand.
– During the last ten years, rents have more than doubled and apartment prices have almost doubled, says the assistant professor of economics Ronan Lyons from Trinity College, Dublin.
Lyons estimates that around 60,000 homes should be built in Ireland each year. However, the country has had difficulties reaching 30,000 apartments per year for the previous decade.
One reason for the housing shortage is that Ireland’s population is growing. The number of inhabitants was one year 2022 in the census 5.1 million. It had grown by almost 390,000 people since 2016. The vast majority of this was due to immigration.
The housing shortage is already bothering companies
In addition to young adults, the housing crisis torments the poor. Homelessness has worsened to a record level. Homeless in February was already more than 13,500, of which more than 4,000 are children. There are homeless people in Finland just under 3,500.
According to assistant professor Ronan Lyons, the housing shortage has begun to show in people’s attitudes towards immigration.
– It has changed a little over the course of a year and a half. Most people are still open to immigration, but a growing, vocal minority complain that immigration is making the housing crisis worse, he says.
The Irish economy is steadily moving forward, but the housing crisis has already started to hinder economic development.
In a recent survey almost two out of three Dublin companies that responded said they had lost employees or potential employees due to the housing shortage.
Rented home in the countryside with mother
The housing shortage is not only a problem in big cities.
28-year-old home economics and religion teacher Aisling Hughes shares a rented house with his mother in the countryside near Northern Ireland. It’s more than a hundred kilometers from Dublin.
Hughes has been living with her mother since breaking up with her boyfriend a few years ago.
See how he feels about the situation in the video:
According to Hughes, in rural Ireland there is a tendency for family homes to pass on to children, and as a result there is little rental housing in rural areas. When there is something, the rents are tough, he says.
– I could rent an apartment by myself and use half or three quarters of my salary, he describes.
Friends, on the other hand, live with their spouses and children, so a shared home does not seem like an option.
Hughes has not tried to apply for a mortgage, as he feels that banks favor couples. He has also heard about unpleasant experiences when applying for a loan. He thinks that he could probably get a loan for a modest apartment, but overall the option doesn’t seem reasonable.
– I question my life sometimes. I have a good job that I love. I save money and I’m good with money. Why am I not rewarded for that, Hughes ponders.
He dreams of being able to build his own house one day.
Now, however, he lives with his mother and dog. They were lucky with the apartment: the house rent is 850 euros.
Until last fall, Aisling Hughes’ older sister, a couple of years older, lived in the house. He moved to Amsterdam to experience what life feels like outside of an Irish country village.
Mum Dympna to Hughes living together is fine. He says he recently spoke with a woman whose grown son moved back in with his mother with his wife and two children to save money.
Dympna Hughes, of course, hopes that her daughter will have her own home, because she needs it.
He tells more about his thoughts in the video: