美国年轻人为什么不爱买房？太贵

纽约联邦储备银行在去年年底发布的一则报道预计，美国学生债总量达到了约1.5万亿美元，其中大多数债务人属于千禧一代的85后、90后。

这一巨额数字是众多千禧一代在财务支出时的一个关键考虑因素，包括其购置房屋的决定。

有鉴于过去10年中薪资增长的乏力，这个人们一再提到的有关千禧一代因沉重的学生债务负担而不得不推迟“成年”的比喻，在某些方面已经成为了千禧一代的真实写照。是的，与70年代以后的那一代人相比，越来越多的青年美国人如今选择在毕业后与父母生活。

但这仅仅是故事的一个方面。研究表明，千禧一代正在开始搬出父母房子，并购买其首套房。房利美是一家借贷人流动性提供商和房产抵押投资者，因此这对于我的公司以及我们所服务的房屋金融行业来说是个利好消息。但要满足这一不断增长的购房需求依然存在着挑战，而且并非是所有千禧一代都善于财务之道。

近些年住房拥有率的增长开始变得越发明显，而这一增长的主要推手来源于年轻和低收入家庭。35岁以下居民住房持有率从2016年第一季度的34.2%升至2019年第一季度的35.4%。这一增幅看起来并不是很大，但相对来讲，它比全美住房拥有率的增幅高出了84%。

房利美的研究显示，学生债务可能是人们推迟购买住房的原因之一，但并非是阻止其买房的原因。别忘了，即便有学生债务，那些有大学文凭的人购买房子的可能性比没有大学文凭的人要高。

我有机会在上个月参加了《财富》金融头脑风暴大会，并与SoFi消费借贷业务负责人阿南德·卡威尔就学生债的影响进行了探讨。SoFi是一家位于旧金山的出借公司，其业务之一便是学生债的再融资。

讨论中涉及的两个与住房有关的主题引起了我的注意。首先，背负学生债的美国青年一代并非都知道或了解其所拥有的选择，包括众多与购房和借贷有关的基本常识。第二，尽管学生债可能会让购房问题变得复杂，但更大的一个问题在于住房成本的飙升。

例如，在审核抵押贷款的资质时，业界对待学生债和其他类型消费债的标准并不完全不一样。借贷方和其家庭可以获得可用于购房的融资机会，这类融资机会还可以帮助家庭利用更低成本的债务对学生债进行再融资。此外，房利美调查显示，就获取抵押贷款的资质而言，人们的认知和现实之间往往存在差距。这也就是说，很多较为年轻、没有购房的人士认为自己没有获得抵押贷款的资质，而事实可能想反。

学生债，甚至是抵押贷款的资质问题，并非完全是购房的最大障碍。对于包括新毕业大学生和工薪阶层父母在内的众多美国中等收入民众来说，一个更大的问题在于市场上缺乏他们能够买得起的房子。确实，克服偿还学生债的困难是可以实现的，但找到符合工薪阶层购买能力价位的像样房屋，在很多城市中都是近乎不可能的事情。

千禧一代的房屋需求正在不断上涨。但相对与此前几代人，满足这一需求将对房屋和抵押融资行业提出更高的要求。我们的行业应该让抵押和房屋购买流程变得更通俗易懂。我们还可以加大宣传力度，以确保首次购房者获得必要的知识，从而就是否购房做出知情决策。然而，我们最大的任务可能不仅仅在于向千禧一代提供他们可以负担得起的贷款，同时还应该向他们提供能够买得起的房子。（财富中文网）

休·弗雷特是房利美公司的首席执行官。

译者：冯丰

审校：夏林

A report from the New York Federal Reserve late last year estimated that the student debt of Americans was about $1.5 trillion, the majority of which is owed by millennials.

That huge number has been a key factor in the choices many millennials have made about their financial lives—including their decisions about housing.

The oft-repeated trope about millennials having to delay “adulting” due to the burdens of student debt, combined with anemic wage growth for much of the last decade, has been, in some respects, true. Yes, more young Americans today have chosen to live with their parents after college than Gen Xers did.

But that is only part of the story. Research suggests that millennials are starting to move out—and buying their first homes. As a provider of liquidity for lenders and investors in home mortgages, that’s good news for my company, Fannie Mae, as well as the housing finance industry we serve. But challenges remain if we are to meet this growing demand for housing, and not all of them are financial in nature.

The increase in the homeownership rate in recent years has started to tick up, and that growth has been driven primarily by younger and lower-income households. The homeownership rate among households headed by somebody younger than 35 increased from 34.2% in the first quarter of 2016 to 35.4% in the first quarter of 2019. That may appear to be a small bump, but in relative terms, it’s 84% larger than the increase in homeownership among the population as a whole.

Fannie Mae’s research suggests that student debt has probably delayed homeownership, not prevented it altogether. And it bears remembering that those with a college degree are more likely to own a home than those without—even if they have student debt.

I had the opportunity to discuss the effects of student debt at the Fortune Brainstorm Finance conference last month with Anand Cavale, head of consumer lending at SoFi, a San Francisco-based lender with a specialty in refinancing student debt.

I took away two housing-related themes from our discussion. First, young Americans with student debt don’t always know or understand their options, including many of the basics about home buying and borrowing. And second, while student debt may complicate homeownership, a much bigger problem is the out-of-whack cost of housing.

For instance, when it comes to eligibility for a mortgage loan, student debt is not always treated with the same weight as other forms of consumer debt. Borrowers and their families have financing options that can open up homeownership possibilities or help a family refinance student loans with lower-cost debt. Further, Fannie Mae survey research shows that there is often a gap between perception and reality when it comes to what it takes to qualify for a mortgage. That is, many younger people who don’t own a home think they would not qualify for a mortgage, when in fact they could.

Student debt, or even qualifying for a mortgage, is not always the biggest obstacle to homeownership. The much larger problem—one faced by many Americans of modest means, whether they are recent college graduates or working parents—is the lack of homes at prices they can afford. Indeed, overcoming student debt is achievable, but finding a decent home you can afford on a working person’s wage has, in many cities, become nearly impossible.

Demand for homes from the so-called millennial generation is rising. But meeting the demand will require more from the housing and mortgage finance industries than what we provided previous generations. Our industry can and should make it easier to understand the mortgage and home-buying process. We can also do more to ensure first-time home buyers have the knowledge necessary to make informed choices about homeownership. And perhaps our biggest task is not only providing millennials a loan they can afford, but also a house they can afford.

Hugh Frater is the CEO of Fannie Mae.