Lingnan study finds one quarter of Hong Kong parents expect to provide financial assistance for their adult children to live independently

HONG KONG, Sept. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Accommodation for young people in Hong Kong has long been at the top of the policy agenda. Recent research conducted by Lingnan University in Hong Kong (LU) and the City University of Hong Kong on the younger generation's housing opportunities finds that 26 per cent of parents who responded expect to subsidise their adult children when they buy a property. Findings also suggest reliance on the family is now increasingly frequent, and important to young adults who wish to live independently and have a choice.

This research explores plans and parents' attitudes towards providing financial and non-financial intergenerational housing support to adult children in Hong Kong. The data collection was conducted between July 2020 and April 2021. It included a telephone survey of 1,012 parents whose grown-up children live at home with them, and pre- / post-survey, in-depth interviews.

Of the 1,012 parents surveyed, the majority (66%) said that they have no plans to provide financial housing support for their adult children in the next five years, but a quarter (26%) do intend to subsidise grown-up children. Of these, more who already own their own homes intend to provide financial housing support than public rental housing (PRH) tenants (Homeowner: 34% vs PRH tenant: 15%).

15 per cent of respondents with financial support plans expected to provide assistance of less than HK$100,000, whereas 32 per cent would provide between HK$100,000 and HK$1 million, and 26 per cent would offer more than HK$1 million. About half of these (48%) planned to provide financial housing support in the form of both loans and gifts, while 32 per cent and 14 per cent respectively thought of the sum as either a gift or a loan, and only 16 per cent of parents treating the subsidies as loan would expect the whole sum to be reimbursed.

A majority (81%) of those with financial support plans expect the money to finance the down payment of a new flat, and most (74%) would take it from savings. As far as timing is concerned, most parents (58%) expect to contribute when their children marry.

The main three reasons given by parents without financial support plans are "family financial incapacity" (47%), "not parents' responsibility" (37%), and "children are financially capable of moving out without family help" (33%). These parents expect to offer alternative support, including allowing their adult children to continue living with them (56%), reducing their housekeeping contributions (35%), and contributing to their grandchildren's care of their children save to buy a home in the future.