Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Single women are showing much greater interest in becoming homeowners than their single male counterparts, according to a new study.
Shot of a woman moving into her new homehttp://195.154.178.81/DATA/i_collage/pu/shoots/805830.jpg
Women without partners are buying homes and condos at twice the rate of men who live alone, the National Association of Realtors found in its study. Single women accounted for 18 percent of all home purchases in 2017, compared to just 7 percent for single men. That makes single women, which includes never-married individuals, divorcees and widows, the largest segment of home buyers behind married couples, the NAR said. What’s more, the trend is likely to continue.
Jessica Lautz, NAR’s director of demographic and behavioral insights, told The Washington Post that the reason for the discrepancy is that women tend to see homeownership as more of an investment than men do. That’s evidenced by the fact single women usually pay more for a home than men do - $185,000 on average, versus $175,000 for single men.
Another key motivation for single women could be rising rents, experts said. Some 23 percent of single women buyers said rising rents are a “trigger” behind their decision to purchase in a second survey carried out by the research firm Builders Digital Experience.
And it seems homebuilders are taking notice of the trend, designing new homes that may appeal to the preferences of single women. For example a new McKee Homes development in North Carolina has sold almost 50 percent of those homes to single women aged 30 years and up.
