In this Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, photo, a carpenter works on the roof of a town home in Robinson Township, Pa. The National Association of Home Builders releases the housing market index for January on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014. – CREDIT: AP/Gene J. Puskar.

Our generation is delaying investing in homes and white picket fences because students loans are hindering our economic stability.

According to Redfin, 16 percent of those surveyed said student debt is indeed preventing them from purchasing a home.

Of the remaining surveyed, one-third of respondents declared that the need to pay off loans had delayed them from purchasing their first home for one to two years. Thirty-one percent replied it would prevent them from buying a home for four years or more.

Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they would be delayed two to three years. Twelve percent said that paying student loans would prevent them from buy a home for three to four years.

In a recent quarterly report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, household debt reached $11.52 trillion—a rise of 2.1 percent—the highest rise since late 2008, the start of the Great Recession.

Student loans increased by $53 billion, which at 5.3 percent was a larger increase than mortgage or auto loans.

Owning a home has been a staple of the middle class and the American Dream, so the housing market is a major pillar of the country’s economy that will likely be impacted if this student loan crisis left unanswered by Congress.

By Daniel Ulloa