Student Debt Hurts Housing Recovery By Hampering First-Time Buyers

Student debt may hurt housing recovery by hampering first-time buyers. "The growing student loan burden carried by millions of Americans threatens to undermine the housing recovery's momentum by discouraging, or even blocking, a generation of potential buyers from purchasing their first homes. Recent improvements in the housing market have been fueled largely by investors who snapped up homes in the past few years. But that demand is waning as prices climb and mortgage rates rise. An analysis by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that loan applications for home purchases have slipped nearly 20 percent in the past four months compared with the same period a year earlier." Dina ElBoghdady in The Washington Post.