“Doubled-up” homes, or, homes that include at least one additional adult who is neither a student nor the homeowner’s spouse/partner, decreased by 0.4 percent in 2011, though the total number of doubled-up homes remains far above its 2007 totals.

Doubled-up homes peaked in 2010, when 22 million households were doubled-up. 2011’s decline, though, may indicate that  the living arrangement is on the decline. According to CalculatedRisk, this dip is part of the reason for last year’s increased demand for rental units, as people were moving out of their shared homes.

In the spring of 2007, 17.0 percent of all households were doubled-up this type, totaling 19.7 million homes. By spring 2011, that number had bumped up to 21.8 million, or 18.3 percent.

CalculatedRisk also speculates that a strong increase in employment would correspond with the dwindling of doubled-up households, which would help absorb the excess housing supply.