US housing recovery divided on age, race and place

Three new industry analyses released Thursday show that the recovering economy has produced a divided U.S. housing market.

Where people live, their age and the color of their skin have largely influenced who has benefited as real estate continues to heal from the bursting of a mortgage bubble that triggered the worst economic downturn in nearly 80 years.

[...] the millennials buying their first home are being priced out of the market because student debt has prevented them from saving.

[...] a major gap exists among who qualifies for a mortgage even as the overall approval rate improves.

The financial gains might be enough to coax more people to list their properties for sale, ending a shortage of homes on the market.

Millennials, ages 18 to 34, face a less affordable housing market than their parents, forcing them to put off ownership.

The Realtors survey indicates that student loans and other debts have delayed down payment savings by a median of three years.

A quarter of the first-time buyers identified saving for a down payment as their biggest challenge, with the majority of this group saying that education loans hurt their ability to set aside money.