The average student loan debt loads are not enough by themselves to prevent graduates in almost the entire country from purchasing a home, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate data firm.

Ninety-six percent of U.S. housing markets remain affordable for recent university graduates who make at least the median household income for their areas, RealtyTrac discovered.

“Contrary to much rampant speculation that student loan debt is holding back homeownership among recent graduates, we found that the vast majority of markets are affordable for recent graduates making the median household income – even many of those recent graduates with student loans,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

However, student loans still represent a significant handicap for recent graduates in terms of the minimum income needed to buy a median priced home, he added.

Nationwide, recent graduates with student loans need to earn 34% more ($8,969) than recent graduates without student loans to be able to afford a median-priced home, Blomquist said.

States where graduates with student loans had to make the greatest percentage more than those without student loans in order to afford to buy a home included Michigan, (55%), Ohio (53%), Pennsylvania (49%), Iowa (48%), and Alabama (47%).

States where student loan debt had the least percentage impact on income needed to buy a median priced home included California (graduates with student loans need to earn 12% more than graduates without student loans), New York (17%), Virginia (17%), Massachusetts (18%) and Wyoming (19%).

RealtyTrac said there were four counties out of the nearly 500 it analyzed that were not affordable to recent graduates making the median income whether or not they had student loans, including San Francisco Country, New York Country (Manhattan), Kings County New York, (Brooklyn) , San Mateo County, California and Marin County, California.

The firm also found only seven counties where whether or not a graduate had student loans would make or break their home purchase.

Instant Insights /

Student Loans Not Holding Back Home Ownership: RealtyTrac

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