Mel Watt: Student loans, financial crisis holding back homeownership

The Washington Examiner reports:

The top U.S. housing regulator said Friday that factors such as high student debt and the lingering effects of the 2008 crisis on household finances are holding back the housing market.

Mel Watt, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said Friday at a National Association of Realtors conference in New Orleans that "demand factors," not just problems among lenders, are inhibiting homeownership. The focus on demand-side factors marked a new talking point for Watt, who in his first year on the job has focused on ways to promote credit through the bailed-out companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that his agency supervises.

Among the "troubling headwinds" cited by Watt was rising student loan debt, which has eclipsed $1 trillion in the U.S. "[M]any individuals with student loans are struggling with high debt levels and impaired ability to save for a down payment — both of which make it more difficult to qualify for a mortgage," said Watt, according to prepared text for his speech.

The great moments of central planning.