After a number of recent events including International Womens’ Day, PropertyESP Director Samantha Reece thought she would share some insights into how women are forging ahead with property ownership.
“Westpac’s annual Home Ownership Report recently revealed that women are overtaking men when it comes to home ownership.
A survey of more than 1,000 Australian home owners and first-home buyers found that women are ahead of men in most categories:
- more women have bought a home to live in (women 28 per cent of survey respondents compared with men 20 per cent)
- more women have bought an investment property (16 per cent compared with men 13 per cent)
- more women are renovating (29 per cent compared with men 27 per cent)
- and more women are selling a property (17 per cent compared with men 14 per cent).
The report also found that more women than men ‘strongly believe’ that ‘owning your own home is a reflection of your success in life’ (up 26 per cent on last year) and that ‘property is a pathway to wealth’ (up 10 per cent on last year).
Female first-home buyers were twice as likely as men to consider good investment potential in a home as essential (35 per cent vs men 18 per cent), and were also twice as likely to consider buying an investment property in the next five years (22 per cent vs men 11 per cent).
Overall, 71 per cent of women are ‘considering housing actions in the next five years’, as opposed to 61 per cent of men.
And data from the ATO shows the number of female taxpayers receiving rent has risen from just under 14 per cent in 2010-11 to 15.4 per cent in 2014-15. By comparison, over that period men only saw an increase from 14.7 per cent to 15.9 per cent. The ATO data also indicates that approximately 47 per cent of all investment properties are owned by women.
With an increase of 3000 females in the workforce in WA over the last quarter, it is evident that women are securing greater financial independence and hence making their own business decisions when it comes to property. This is also affected by the fact that the average age of a woman who marries in WA is now 29 and the State recorded the highest proportion of divorces nationally at 48.3% in the 2016 census.
But more close to home, PropertyESP recently conducted research with buyers of the Stockland Completed Homes and found that women had a huge influence over the final purchase. While the husbands took their wives to other houses that were cheaper and bigger – it was futile – because when these women inspected the Completed Homes, it was literally love at first sight! There were also cases where the women sourced additional income from lenders and family in order to stretch their budgets and buy what they wanted!
These trends will ultimately have an influence over how a company markets and sells their properties – especially on a face to face level in the sales office.
The question is – are you ready for this new wave?”
PropertyESP 