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28th January 2021

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Homeowners desperately seek space solutions as stay-at-home children count soars

As more young adults chose to live at home with their parents, unable to get on the property ladder, IronmongeryDirect, the online and mail order supplier of ironmongery products to the trade, is seeing a significant rise in products designed to save space and offer storage solutions.

The number of 20 to 34 year-olds living with their parents has jumped by 669,000 in the last eight years according to the Office of National Statistics, to an astonishing 3.3 million people.

The issue is most acute in areas such as Northern Ireland, the West Midlands, the North West and Wales where, in some locations, as many as 36% of young adults are still living with mum and dad.

As a result, many homes are bursting at the seams trying to accommodate an ever-growing number of adults.

"People are highly unlikely to move to a bigger home in order to accommodate grown-up children as often it's seen (and hoped) to be a short term situation," says Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director of IronmongeryDirect. "Therefore, tradespeople are increasingly gaining work in helping to squeeze additional living and storage space out of an existing property.

"For example, one major issue is accommodating double beds into rooms that might previously have been for a child or a visitor's room. One solution when space is tight is to add a sliding door, either in the entrance to the room of on fitted storage units. We've seen significant growth in demand for such products go hand in hand with the rise in young adults living at home.

"Another growing trend is for bathroom fittings that can be used to create mini en-suites, helping to solve the morning rush by adding small shower rooms onto existing bedrooms. We've certainly seen an increase in sales of these products as more houses are stretched to meet changing needs."

T: 0808 168 28 28
E: [email protected]
W: www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk

16th May 2014