Why young men - not young women - are living with their parents longer.

Young adult men are far more likely to be living with their parents than women of the same age, Australia’s most comprehensive household survey reveals.

HILDA, the survey of Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia, has been tracking the economic and social situation of more than 17,000 people since 2001.

Of its many and extensive findings, the survey found that not only are young adults living with their parents longer, between the ages of 22 and 25, men are overwhelmingly more likely to be living at home.

In fact, the survey found 60 per cent of men aged 22 to 25 are living at home, compared 48 per cent of women the same age. That’s up from 43 per cent and 27 per cent respectively in 2001.

Professor Roger Wilkins, editor of the HILDA report, said there are many reasons for both young men and women to stay at home a little bit longer.

"Partly, it is due to a higher proportion of young people going on to university study. Rising housing costs are also an important factor. The decline in full-time employment among young adults may also be making it harder for them to move out, although this is itself partly a result of growth in university attendance.

"There is also a broader social trend to doing things later in life – getting married, having children, and so on – which may be contributing to the trend," he said.

According to social researcher Mark McCrindle, the reasons that men and women are moving out later and later also reflect the reasons women leave the family home first.

Of particular note is the average age of first marriages.

"Women on average still marry two years younger than men. If you compare the numbers - men are getting married 31 and women on average at 29 - you realise that at 28, you are going to have more men at home than women," McCrindle tells Mamamia.

"Social norms are still being retained, and for that reason, men are staying at home longer."

McCrindle adds another "key factor" sending women out of the home earlier is the birth of the their first baby.

"The average age of first-time mums is two years younger than the average age than first-time dads," he says, adding for this reason, men are more likely to be touch older than women when moving out.

More than anything, McCrindle argues it's the overriding "financial pressures" and "rising debt levels of young people" that is having the biggest impact on young adults' living arrangements, that means that "economically, they have no alternative".

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