Starting in October, federal student loan borrowers will resume their debt repayment obligations after enjoying over three years of paused payments. According to a recent report by Zillow, the typical student loan borrower deferred approximately $15,000 in student loan payments during this pause. However, even with this temporary financial respite, many are still struggling to enter today’s challenging housing market.
Indeed, the principal and interest mortgage payments on a typical new home loan has more than doubled since the student loan payment pause began in March 2020, according to Zillow. That increase is driven by the fact that during this time frame the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate spiked from 3.5% to over 6%, while U.S. home prices surged over 40%.
