My DS7 has also told us he's never moving out, and has asked us several times which universities and colleges are close by. DH keeps trying to convince him he'll eventually need or want to move out - I just figure (hope?) he'll change his mind when he's ready.
LOL. My DD10 had her own existential crisis over moving out at about the same age. I think it was triggered by the fact that we'd just skipped her a year, and she translated that into us hurrying her through school and out the door. She saw it as a year of lost childhood. We recognized that, even though we're talking about her as an adult, we were speaking to her then as a small child, with the fears and uncertainties associated with that, so we were the ones who talked about which universities were close by, how a lot of young, working adults are staying at home these days for financial reasons, etc. DD then began taking note of how many houses were available for lease or sale within our neighborhood, and that seemed to relax her. She decided she's going to live next door (or as close to it as practicable) when she moves out at all.
I'm sure that how she feels about it at 18 will be different from how she felt at 8, but we'll worry about that then.
On the other hand... this IS the girl who, just yesterday, declared to me, "I'm never going to be a responsible adult." This led me to pointing out how she's already a very responsible child. I worked from home yesterday to take DW to a medical procedure, and we left DD behind to continue her online lessons. I used that as an example of how responsible she is, rhetorically asking, "What did you do when we left you alone?"
Her response, without missing a beat, "I ate chips and watched cartoons."
