I’ve written about student loans’ impact on housing, notably its impact on the Charlottesville market, but these are two recent stories, each with its own take on student loans. (My short opinion: student loans are increasing for the same reason the housing bubble expanded … we do remember what happened to that, right?)

The Wall Street Journal:

Higher levels of student debt will reduce U.S. home sales by around 8% this year, according to a report released Friday by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, an advisory firm.

…

Higher debt burdens will defer home purchases for many borrowers while requiring others to buy a less expensive home in order to qualify for a loan or save for a down payment.

The paper estimates that every $250 per month in student loan debt reduces borrowers’ purchasing power by $44,000, and since 2005, some 3.8 million additional households have at least $250 per month in student debt.

Put differently, around 35% of households under age 40 have monthly student debt payments exceeding $250, up from 22% of households in 2005.

And The Onion:

Lamenting that she will spend the foreseeable future paying off her college expenses, local 23-year-old digital marketing assistant Ashley Orlinsky expressed concern Wednesday that her student loans will prevent her from ever owning an entirely different type of utterly crippling debt. “Realistically, it’ll take years or even decades to fully repay $50,000 of loans, which makes me worried that I’ll never qualify for a backbreaking mortgage on a house that I can in no way afford,” said Orlinsky, adding that with $350 in monthly student loan payments, she will likely struggle to even borrow money to purchase a new car that will destroy her credit rating and may one day be repossessed by the bank.

It’s all about your perspective!

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