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Real estate industry data show it's becoming more common for at least three generations to live together. NPR's Stephan Bisaha reports that's also changing the houses they live in.
STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: Two big reasons to share one roof - sharing the mortgage and sharing childcare. Andrea Wolverton (ph) tried doing both on her own in 2023 after she separated from her husband.
ANDREA WOLVERTON: It was hard to, you know, pay all the bills, pay my mortgage, all those things, and be able to just feel like I could be present for my kid and everything.
BISAHA: Wolverton was working 12-hour shifts as a nurse. So she moved into her parents' home in the Portland suburbs with her then-3-year-old son, Theo (ph).
WOLVERTON: My parents, for all intents and purposes, like, acted as his second parents.
BISAHA: They handled bedtime, preschool drop off, pick up and also cooked. Wolverton paid rent, which helps speed up her parents' retirement timeline.
WOLVERTON: This makes so much sense. Like, why don't more people do it?
BISAHA: The thing is, more people are doing it, according to new data from realtor.com. Just looking at owner-occupied homes, 4 million of those homes had at least a parent, a kid and a grandparent under one roof in 2024.
HANNAH JONES: We see that there are more multigenerational households in the U.S.
BISAHA: Hannah Jones is a senior economic research analyst at realtor.com.
JONES: And also we see that multigenerational listings are becoming more popular.
BISAHA: And that's what's new here - the idea of cramming multiple generations into one house has always been a thing and still is. But now there are more of these houses built to fit more people with more privacy. Listings for these properties get about 14% more page views than the typical home. These listings are also most common in Western states.
JONES: Especially high in the coast in general, but especially in California. So, you know, where housing costs are really high.
BISAHA: Now, housing prices are high just about everywhere. The median sales price for a home these days is about $400,000, more than the typical household can afford. So some families are still cramming into homes without the extra privacy.
JONES: More families are choosing to do this, not in the luxury additional dwelling unit way, but in the way of just having more members in the household.
BISAHA: But if you can't afford one of these specially designed homes, what do you get?
JEREMY PARNESS: We like to refer to it as a home within a home.
BISAHA: Jeremy Parness is a regional president at Lennar, one of the country's largest homebuilders. He says that second home, hidden in the first one, often comes with its own private entrance, living room, kitchenette.
PARNESS: As well as a washer and dryer.
BISAHA: These features cost homebuilders more to add, and homebuyers are willing to pay more to get them. Realtor.com found these homes sell for about 22% more per square foot. They get even pricier in the South and Midwest, where there just aren't as many of these homes compared to the West Coast. Parness says even if these homes are more expensive, there are generally more people sharing the mortgage, which makes it more affordable for everyone.
PARNESS: I like to say two homes, one payment. That's the way to think about it. Two homes and one payment.
BISAHA: Andrea Wolverton slept in a private studio her parents finished above the garage before she moved back in. And a few months ago, Wolverton was able to make another big move.
WOLVERTON: So I moved out of my parents and me and my son and my partner moved in together, which has been amazing.
BISAHA: She's renting, and when she does eventually buy, she wants enough room for her parents to be able to live with her.
WOLVERTON: Extra space for somebody else to be here would be huge.
BISAHA: Just like her parents welcomed her back into their home, Wolverton says she'd be happy for her parents to live in hers.
Stephan Bisaha, NPR News.
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