Session 25

H3 Comparative Study about ‘Leaving’ and ‘Living’: Housing and Young People in Asia

A growing number of young people have difficulties in leaving their family home and living autonomously due to the increasing housing and rental price. Such economic constraints have encouraged young people to adopt house sharing yet it often causes a delayed transition to independent living affecting their life paths. In Asia, homeownership is often regarded as a prerequisite to marriage and parenthood. Housing is closely related to the individual and social recognition of adulthood. On the other hand, many parts of Asia, especially countries in the East Asian region have been experiencing a post-growth transition, which is characterized by low economic growth and an aging and declining population. This transition entails the shrinking housing and mortgage market, which brings about intergenerational social inequalities significantly affecting the housing and life trajectories of young people. However, those young people in Southeast Asia may have similar or completely different views and attitudes towards housing trajectories and life paths. Various institutional, historical, and economic contexts may have shaped Asian young people’s views and attitudes towards housing and life trajectories. This session aims to examine the experiences of such ‘leaving’ and ‘living’ among Asian young people and their struggles to secure existential stability in parallel with their structure of feeling and personhood formation.