It's a growing reality that many of you may be personally familiar with: the return of the multigenerational home. And it's also an opportunity for insurance agents.

According to a recent Pew Report as reported in the Washington Post:

The number of people living with several generations under one roof in the United States is at its highest point in 50 years, as families cope with ruinous job losses and foreclosures…

During the first year of the recession, the number of Americans living in such multi-generational families rose by 2.6 million, or more than 5 percent, from 2007 to 2008.

Now 49 million Americans — 16.1 percent of the population — live in homes with multiple generations. Many include adult children in their 20s…

Young adults are less likely to be married than they once were. The typical age of first marriage is five years later than it was in 1970 — 28 for men and 26 for women…

In a tough job market, many still live with their parents. Pew'sanalysis showed that 37 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds in 2009 were either out of the workforce or unemployed, a nearly four-decade high. The figure includes some college students.

According to the report, the multigenerational trend has been growing since the 1980s, in part because of the economy, but also because multigenerational homes are common for many ethnic groups.