Unemployment and consumer debt are putting home ownership beyond the reach of would-be buyers even as U.S. home prices reset to 2003 levels, according to a report today by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

“Clear signs of a recovery have yet to emerge, and job losses and the steady stream of foreclosures are keeping many markets under pressure,” researchers for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based center wrote. “Sales of both new and existing homes continued to struggle to find a bottom.”

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