Over 50 Pct of Children in Japan Consider Living with Their Parents

August 27, 2018

Tokyo- Over 50 pct of people in Japan have considered living with or close to their parents, nearly double the share of parents who have had similar thoughts, a private-sector survey has revealed.

According to the survey on matters related to inheritance of parents' houses, conducted by Asahi Kasei Homes Corp., 51.1 pct of respondents on the children's side had examined the idea of living with their parents or in houses adjacent to their parents'.

On the parents' side, the share of those who have thought about living with their children and children's families or having them reside nearby stood at only 28.7 pct. Many others, however, expressed willingness to consider such options if asked to do by their children.

The survey also found that 71.2 pct of parents want to talk about the future of their homes with their children and that 63.2 pct of children hope to discuss what to do with their parents' homes with their parents as well as brothers and sisters.

The results indicate that the issues of home inheritance, sale and remodeling attract high interest from both sides. But actually discussing such matters may not be easy, as suggested by another survey finding that the proportion of parents who have discussed the future of their homes with their children was low at 42.5 pct.

The online survey, conducted chiefly in urban areas for three days from July 24, covered 600 parents in their 50s-70s and 1,600 children in their 30s-60s with families of their own.

Asahi Kasei Homes said it carried out the survey against the background of vacant homes becoming a key housing policy challenge in the country amid population declines and job concentration in big cities, citing an internal affairs ministry 2013 report showing the number of such homes had jumped 1.8-fold to 8.2 million in 20 years. Jiji Press