One major reason many young people cannot buy their first house is a high ratio of debt. Particularly student loan and credit card debt. Lenders made a lot of risky loans a decade ago which was one of the causes of the burst of the mortgage bubble and the Great Recession. Like many landlords who've been burned by renting to overburdened tenants, lenders are not likely to repeat this mistake and most screen potential home buyers carefully today.

We worked with our children to keep their debt down and to pay as they go, especially with student loans. The ones who listened own homes, the ones who didn't, don't.