An interesting question. Here are some initial thoughts:
In terms of broad economic aggregates, it won’t make any difference. If you rent the room off your parents for a market rate, GDP is exactly unaffected, people are paying the same money to different people. If you rent it for less than market rate, GDP is lower, but this reflects deficiencies in measured GDP since GDP uses market prices as a proxy for the value of a transaction (this is fine for the most part, but doing your child a favour is an exception conventional methodology can’t deal with). So from a macroeconomic perspective I’d say it’s a wash either way.
Microeconomically, there could be some efficiencies in you renting from your parents. If they trust you more than a random stranger (and let’s hope they do) they will spend less time monitoring your behaviour (property inspections and the like) than they would a random stranger, but the value of your familial relationship should constrain you from taking advantage of that lax monitoring in the way a stranger would. This mean that your parents save time (which makes their life easier) and no one should be worse off (I assume the current tenant of their room would find adequate accommodation elsewhere).
However, one note of caution. If you were to get into a dispute of some sort with your parents over the tenancy, this could damage your relationship with your parents. If you value this relationship (and I assume you do), this is a potential downside that doesn’t exist under the status quo. Also, some people might see renting from your parents as little different to living with your parents which (depending on your age) may cost you status in your day-to-day life (even if you pay a market rate). If you value status, you should be aware of this drawback.
So in summary, the most efficient outcome depends on three variables:
1) How much time and effort do your parents spend monitoring their tenant at the moment?
2) How likely is it that your relationship with them could be strained as a result of you living there?
3) How many friends / acquaintances / colleagues do you have that would think less of your for renting from your parents (and how much do you care)?
An interesting question. Here are some initial thoughts:
In terms of broad economic aggregates, it won’t make any difference. If you rent the room off your parents for a market rate, GDP is exactly unaffected, people are paying the same money to different people. If you rent it for less than market rate, GDP is lower, but this reflects deficiencies in measured GDP since GDP uses market prices as a proxy for the value of a transaction (this is fine for the most part, but doing your child a favour is an exception conventional methodology can’t deal with). So from a macroeconomic perspective I’d say it’s a wash either way.
Microeconomically, there could be some efficiencies in you renting from your parents. If they trust you more than a random stranger (and let’s hope they do) they will spend less time monitoring your behaviour (property inspections and the like) than they would a random stranger, but the value of your familial relationship should constrain you from taking advantage of that lax monitoring in the way a stranger would. This mean that your parents save time (which makes their life easier) and no one should be worse off (I assume the current tenant of their room would find adequate accommodation elsewhere).
However, one note of caution. If you were to get into a dispute of some sort with your parents over the tenancy, this could damage your relationship with your parents. If you value this relationship (and I assume you do), this is a potential downside that doesn’t exist under the status quo. Also, some people might see renting from your parents as little different to living with your parents which (depending on your age) may cost you status in your day-to-day life (even if you pay a market rate). If you value status, you should be aware of this drawback.
So in summary, the most efficient outcome depends on three variables: 1) How much time and effort do your parents spend monitoring their tenant at the moment? 2) How likely is it that your relationship with them could be strained as a result of you living there? 3) How many friends / acquaintances / colleagues do you have that would think less of your for renting from your parents (and how much do you care)?
I hope that helps.