Single women are the hottest market for real estate, researchers find
Single women are the hottest market for real estate, researchers find
Sisters are buying it for themselves
The single woman has turned from a second-class aberration to powerful figure over the past century. Her power will no longer be denied — at least as a property buyer.
Seventeen percent of home buyers today in the US are single women, compared with 11 percent in 1981, according to a report by Construction Dive, citing a recent study from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Conversely, only 7 percent of home buyers today consist of single men, compared with 10 percent in 1981.
Interestingly, the decrease in home purchases by single males is occurring even as gender pay gap remains wide. Single male home buyers reported an annual income of USD69,600 in 2016, while their female counterparts earned USD55,300. So what could be pushing more women to buy houses?
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The answer lies in children.
While the median age for single female home buyers is 50, a large proportion of them are rearing children under the age of 18. Consequently, they are more likely to consider owning a house and all the stability it represents, explained Jessica Lautz, NAR manager of member and consumer research.
“A lot of people are facing rising rents and the possibility of higher interest rates and this could cause some insecurity with children at home,” Lautz told Construction Dive. “Single women might be looking to lock in more favorable interest rates at the moment.”
There were 8.6 million single-mother households in 2011, compared with 1.9 million in 1960, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.
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Source: Property Report