Dumping the roommates and focusing on a life together with that special someone used to represent a rite of passage for young adults after marriage.
But high housing costs are pushing a small fraction of married couples, whether they own or rent, to keep nonrelated roommates around even after they tie the knot, according to a new study from Trulia.
The share doing so is still very small. Only 0.87 percent of married couples in metro Denver had roommates along for the ride between 2012-16. But compared to 2005-09, before the housing market crashed, that share is up 64.7 percent.
And its nearly double the U.S. share of 0.46 percent of married households hosting roommates or boarders. That small share represents 280,000 married couples nationally.
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“Most married couples will continue to nest alone or only with family members, but it is clear that roommates often allow married couples to better manage the vagaries of the housing market,” said Cheryl Young, the report’s author.
More expensive areas are the most likely to have married couples with roommates. Honolulu, Orange County in California, Silicon Valley and San Francisco have the highest share of households in that category.
Married renters are more likely to take in roommates than married homeowners and the study found that economic downturns also make people more open to sharing their residences.
