Student Loan Debt and Slower Wage Growth 'Overwhelming' First-Time Homebuyers

Chris Silliman, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty Homes and Estates, says he has had many clients with a lot of student loan debt find a way to purchase a home for the first time. Silliman added, "it was cheaper than renting.” Many first-time homebuyers in Long Island, New York are coming up against wages not keeping pace with housing costs, and high student loan debt.

A bill allowing first-time homebuyers to create savings accounts, giving them a state income tax deduction passed both houses of the State Legislature in New York with near-unanimous support. The measure is currently undergoing legal review, per Newsday's reporting. Elected officials, lenders, and not-for-profit groups are proposing various solutions to help first-time homebuyers.

For many, these measures are a necessity, given that local home prices have risen more than twice as fast as wages since 2000. In Nassau County, residents reported a median household income of about $99,500 during the five-year period ending in 2015 — 38 percent higher than in 2000, census figures show. That is less than half the 77 percent growth in home prices over the same period, to about $468,500, according to figures from the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.

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