For Generations, Moving Out Meant Finding Your Own Place

But rising house prices, tight rental markets and the cost-of-living crunch are prompting some Australians to rethink that traditional move. If Sheena Carter wants to talk to her daughter or grandchildren, she doesn't pick up the phone or get on Facebook. She opens the back door, walks down a short garden path, and knocks on the door of the home next door.

Eight years ago, she and her husband Barry Flentjar sold their home in Central Victoria and had a prefabricated modular house assembled on her daughter's 8-hectare block at the foot of Hanging Rock in Newham, about an hour north-west of Melbourne. "Then we bought [a modular home], and it's been the best thing we've ever done. It came in on the back of a truck, delivered like a pizza, and was fantastic for us.

The Carter's home arrived completed in two parts on the back of a truck and was put together in a matter of days. The move has allowed them to be much closer to family without crowding each other out, while also giving her daughter, Jacqui Carter, some much-needed help. Carter works full-time and has four children with her husband, Cameron Creer, a firefighter on rotating shifts.

Selling their house released financial equity and gave Sheena Carter and her husband the freedom to travel. As for the grandchildren, the move has given them somewhere to escape, be it for a snack, a chat or a board game." "We're very close, Mum and I, Jacqui Carter said. "But we're not living in each other's pockets; she doesn't come and poke her nose in when she's not welcome.

The Carters' unique living arrangement is part of a push towards more multi-generational living. The number of multi-generation households jumped from 275,000 to 335,000 in the 2021 census, a 22 per cent increase. About one in five people in Australia live in multi-generational households, a figure demographer Simon Kuestenmacher expects to keep climbing amid rising housing and living costs.

Kuestenmacher is the co-founder of The Demographics Group based in Melbourne. While the Carters' approach was to add another dwelling, some like Michael St Vincent in Newcastle have kept things under one roof. He's reconfiguring his family home of 56 years so his adult grandchildren, who are struggling to get into the housing market, can move in if they want.

Mr Kuestenmacher said while multi-generational living was ingrained in some cultures, the broader increase was predominantly a story of necessity. "Some of this will be out of a choice, out of providing a wonderful intergenerational set-up where the grandparents can help with the grandchildren, and it's all just a wonderful, helpful environment," he said. "But we have to suspect … that the majority of intergenerational households have at least some element of financial necessity built into it.

There was a quiet that settled over Ellen McNeice's Toorak home after her husband died six years ago. For years, it stayed that way. Then, two of her adult sons moved back in while they saved for a deposit.

The house, she said, was full again. Her home needed very little modification to welcome back her new tenants." "It's wonderful for them because they're not wasting money on rent, Ms McNeice said. The two generations keep everything separate: individual food, cleaning and living schedules.

They'll share meals when it suits, but otherwise, they live quite independently." "We decided when they moved in they would move in not as a mother and children, but as a housemate arrangement, Ms McNeice said. Last year, Ms McNeice was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. She is matter-of-fact about what it means, knowing she'll have to move out of home one day.

"With a bit of luck I'll have another year or two in my own home before I have to move into care, she said. The housing industry is responding to the changing ways Australians are living. While the Carters had space on a generous-sized regional block, the number of suburban plots taking on additional buildings is also increasing.

In New South Wales, the number of secondary dwellings approved jumped by 24 per cent in one year, in part to a relaxation of planning laws. Housing Industry Australia has called for a national approach to planning laws, allowing granny flats of up to 90 square metres to be allowed to bypass lengthy planning queues.