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Last month, a joint NAR/SALT/American Student Assistance survey found that 71% of those who carried student loan debt considered it a barrier to homeownership. More than 50% of those surveyed responded that the financial burden of student loans would keep them out of the homebuying market for more than five years, and 40% said that debt would keep them from moving out of a family member’s home. Not surprisingly, the survey also found that 79% of older millennials (26-35) with $70,000 to $100,000 of debt had the most negative views about their chances of owning a home.

In March, an NAR report found that the baby boomer generation actually carries the most debt, as this group is not only repaying its own student loans but that of their children and other family members as well. The National Association of Home Builders found that student loan debt is one of the reasons the housing market is missing about 2 million young households. The organization said that, in 2014, 8.8 million adults (20%) aged 25 to 34 lived with a family member, up 4.6 million (12%) from 2000. The NAHB maintains that this group represents the estimated 2-million-homeowner hole in the market that homebuilders are missing out on reaching.

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