That really depends on the size of the loan, the APR and the monthly payment. But for a fair number of folk I know, the relatively high monthly student loan pay

That really depends on the size of the loan, the APR and the monthly payment. But for a fair number of folk I know, the relatively high monthly student loan payment is material enough to impact their debt-income ratio and kick their monthly disposable income underneath the threshold required for today's tighter underwriting requirements. Of course, having learnt the lesson I did in the particular way I did, I'm not convinced that owning real estate is a particularly good course of action for most young people anyway. Unfortunately, we've got policy incentives that heavily skew toward owning over renting, mainly the mortgage interest tax deduction. That was my reasoning for buying: "A mostly tax-deductible monthly housing payment? Sounds good to me!"