Student debt is delaying adulthood for millennials. Because of the $1 trillion-plus student debt bubble, millions of millennials have avoided getting married, having children, purchasing a car…and buying a home.
The National Association of Realtors released a new study entitled “The Student Loan Debt and Housing Report 2017.” It concluded that student debt is delaying household formation, buying and saving. And it is causing many millennials to delay homebuying by seven years.
Here is what the group writes:
Student loan debt impacts other life decisions including employment, the state the debt holder lives in, life choices such as continuing education, starting a family, and retirement.
Twenty-two percent were delayed by at least two years in moving out of a family member’s home after college due to their student loans.
Among non-homeowners, 83 percent cite student loan debt as the factor delaying them from buying a home. This is most frequently the case due to the fact that the borrowers cannot save for a down payment because of their student debt. Among homeowners, 28 percent say student debt is impacting the ability to sell their existing home and move to a different home. The delay in buying a home among non-homeowners is seven years and three years for homeowners.
The research also found a few other goodies: one-third of student loan borrowers defaulted on their student loan debt and nearly half with $25,000 or under incomes in 2016 defaulted or forbore on their student loans.
As the chart below suggests, student loan debt can impact millennials when it comes to buying clothes, starting a small business or even owning a pet.
Student loan debt has surpassed $1.2 trillion, and is now the biggest category of debt in the United States. You can thank the government for letting this happen through the instrument of guaranteed student loans. It’s time to get the government out of this and return this function to the private sector.
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