HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: A Mortgage With Every College Graduation. “In order to have a healthy housing market you need to have a steady employment base and also a low level of distressed properties. Both of these prerequisites unfortunately are not applicable to the current economy. One albatross of future buyers is the now increasing burden of student loan debt. While virtually every other debt sector has contracted since the recession hit student loan debt is the only segment that has increased dramatically. . . . Just look at the data; in 2000 student loan debt was roughly 2 percent of all household debt. Today student loan debt makes up over 7 percent of total household debt. Many future buyers are going to have their purchasing power curtailed by the amount of debt they are carrying with student loans.”

Yeah, as I’ve been saying for a while, if you graduate college with the equivalent of a mortgage already, you’re not going to be so quick to take on another one.

And check out this graphic:

Others, equally disturbing, at the link. Moral: Something that can’t go on forever, won’t. This can’t go on forever.