WASHINGTON, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Tuition hikes and growing students' debt burdens in recent years have resulted in a sharp drop in homeownership among young Americans, according to a new research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
As much as 35 percent of the decline in young American (ages 28 to 30) homeownership from 2007 to 2015 is due to higher student debt loads, the research estimates.
The repercussions could be huge for the U.S. economy, as purchasing property is the primary way that U.S. households build wealth. With less wealth, young Americans could cut their spending, while household spending accounts for around 70 percent of the U.S. economic growth.
Besides, the study also challenges a popular idea that more education will bring about more wealth in the future regardless of its swelling costs.
Although college tuition has been keeping on rising in recent years, young Americans are now more highly educated than their predecessors, as the federal government has invested nearly 1 trillion U.S. dollars in loans, grants, and tax credits to college students since 2010, the research shows.
