For years now, the rate at which student loan debt loads nationwide have been rising has drawn the ire of many financial experts. One of their biggest concerns was how these huge balances would end up affecting the people carrying them, as well as the recoveries in the the overall economy, and the housing market in particular.

For instance, it seems that in an ideal scenario, there should be about 5.3 million transactions involving new and existing homes, totaling nearly $1.1 trillion, according to a report from John Burns Real Estate Consulting. However, about 414,000 of those transactions won't take place – costing the market as much as $83 billion in sales (assuming a typical home price of about $200,000) – specifically because of student loan debt carried by households headed by people under the age of 40.

The problem for the market overall seems to be that when it comes to those households carrying education financing balances, there are just so many of them these days that it creates a substantial drag, the report said. In all, some 5.9 million households in this group pay at least $250 per month toward their student loan bills, accounting for roughly 35 percent of all consumers in their age group. That's up from the roughly 2.2 million who could have said the same in 2005, and that portion made up just 22 percent of the total segment's population.

How does it affect individuals specifically?
While paying $250 monthly into such balances may not sound like a lot in comparison with other types of financing, the fact of the matter is that these balances are so large, and can stretch for so long, that they quickly become onerous, the report said. In fact, for every $250 in student loan debt paid each month, it reduces a young adult's power to buy a home by as much as $44,000. Factor in the fact that the majority of these households are actually paying at least $750 a month, and the problem becomes even more substantial; they are effectively locked out of the broader housing market altogether, unless they have significant salaries.

For this reason, it might be important for lenders to try to do more to reach these would-be buyers specifically. They may have a solid financial footing but simply do not have the ability to buy in the market today, and could require help from lenders to achieve their goals of homeownership.