Access to homeownership for young adults is becoming more and more difficult. Italy – where homeownership rates for young adults are steadily decreasing – is a case in point. In the recent past, becoming homeowner was an obvious housing pathway for Italian young adults, even from lower-middle class families. If your parents were homeowner, you became homeowner as well, often with the help of intergenerational transfers. However, the Italian reproduction of homeownership is under severe pressure, as a result of the economic crisis and the subsequent austerity measures. Through in-depth interviews with young adults and their parents, this paper shows how deeply ingrained social expectations and aspirations surrounding homeownership – together with an objective lack of rental options – result in young adults staying longer in their parental home and becoming independent at a later age. This may have a negative impact on the social and economic dynamics within Italian society.

年轻人获得房屋所有权变得越来越困难。意大利——年轻人的房屋拥有率正在稳步下降——就是一个很好的例子。在最近的过去，成为房主是意大利年轻人的明显住房途径，即使是来自中下阶层家庭。如果你的父母是房主，你也会成为房主，通常是在代际转移的帮助下。然而，由于经济危机和随后的紧缩措施，意大利的房屋所有权再生产面临巨大压力。通过对年轻人及其父母的深入采访，本文展示了围绕房屋所有权根深蒂固的社会期望和愿望——加上客观上缺乏租房选择——是如何导致年轻人在父母家中停留更长时间并在较晚年龄独立的。这可能会对意大利社会的社会和经济动态产生负面影响。