When it comes to closing the gender gap in property, Australian women are making great gains but still lag men on ownership.
According to the latest Women and Property report by CoreLogic, 28.3% of property purchases were made by female owners in 2021, up from 27.4% in 2020 and 27.3% of purchases in 2019.
The portion of male purchases declined, from 29.6% in 2020 to 28.7% of purchases in 2021. The past decade has seen an average of 42.9% of joint male and female purchases, down slightly from the previous decade average of 43.5%.
Male/female couples still represent the ‘norm’ among home buyers, however there’s no getting around the fact that women are kicking property goals of their own – and they’re doing it solo.
Paul Clitheroe Chairman of InvestSMART notes that a couple of points about the CoreLogic report really caught his eye.
“The first is that the gender pay gap means it can often take women longer to save for a property. Nonetheless, plenty of women are getting into the market by buying apartments rather than houses.
- Women taking longer to save for property
- More women buying apartments
- Women tend to buy in more expensive suburbs
“Yes, this can underpin a longer term gender wealth gap as houses typically appreciate at a higher rate than units. But an apartment offers a low maintenance, often very secure, lifestyle that gets buyers into the market – and that first important step on the property ladder is critical to share in the gains of rising property values.
“What’s more, women are not always buying in ‘cheapie’ suburbs. I was interested to see that rates of female home ownership in Australia are highest in Greater Sydney (31.9%) – our most expensive property market. It turns out, women are a considerable driving force in the market across Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs (accounting for 37.1% of homes), North Sydney and Hornsby (37.0%) and the city/Inner South (36.2%),” said Mr Clitheroe.
The CoreLogic report also noted that investment property accounts for most of the discrepancy in male and female ownership in Australia, and accounts fully for the discrepancy in New Zealand. It will be interesting to see if this changes by much in the years ahead.
Financy helps women become financially fearless and while we’re at it, we ensure that our members – individuals and organisations – are part of the solution to gender financial equality.
