Study on Student Loans and house buying

[karinothing]

Well, obviously I want to just say "duh, who needed a study for that?"

younginvincibles.org/2012/08/report-takes-first-steps-toward-showing-effect-of-student-debt-on-ability-to-purchase-homes/

“As educational debt grows, it pushes more borrowers out of the housing market, potentially adding another drag to an economy only just emerging from the Great Recession. More research is needed to understand exactly how student debt impacts the broader economy.”

[Deleted]

On the one hand, this seems like a no-brainer. But on the other hand, I agree that we need research to show how far-reaching the student loan issue is.

Maybe more research and facts will help people realize that it's a systemic issue, not just a bunch of irresponsible individuals making poor choices.

[Deleted]

Figures were just released comparing the Class of 2000 and the Class of 2011. It's sickening. Resident tuition at UW-Madison law school rose 165% in that time. But the median pay for the type of employment I had for my first job has only increased 6% in the same time period. Of course my generation isn't buying houses!

[kershnic]

Major "duh" factor there, but sometimes it can be important to prove that obvious things actually are related.

For us this is absolutely true. Since finishing graduate school we've paid somewhere between 30 and 40k in student loan repayment. Without that debt there's no doubt in my mind this money would be saved towards our DP. Combined with the DP savings we do have, we'd be ready to buy. In reality though, we're several years from buying.

I don't think we're irresponsible or made poor financial choices. We can afford our SL payments. We're earning more in careers of our choice because of our education decisions. But it is holding us back from buying a home.

Now I'll go cry.

[ladybrettashley]

At least for the people I know, student loan debt seems to be one of the main indicators of whether a person has bought a house shortly after graduating from college. I know quite a few people who bought houses within 1-3 years of graduating. Every single one of them had little or no SL debt. The majority of my peers who I know have a lot of SL debt (myself included) have not yet bought houses.

So this is not shocking to me. Not many people can afford two mortgages, and SL payments are basically equivalent to a mortgage for people like me who have a lot of debt.

[ESF]

Aug 16, 2012 15:57:02 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

On the one hand, this seems like a no-brainer. But on the other hand, I agree that we need research to show how far-reaching the student loan issue is.

Maybe more research and facts will help people realize that it's a systemic issue, not just a bunch of irresponsible individuals making poor choices.

Word.

We've decided that at this point in our lives, paying more on our SLs now is a better deal long run than aggressively saving for a house. So we put more on our SLs than we pay in rent. All combined, that's $4-5k a month that is not going into the housing market. I'm sure there are thousands of other couples like us - that's a lot of homes not being bought by people who have the income to support a larger mortgage.