Single women are a large force in the housing market, investing in their own futures

Delving into the

“2023 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers” data, National Association of Realtors Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Jessica Lautz traced the rise of single women as a force in the housing market. According to Lautz, already in 1981, when NAR first started the “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers,” the association found single women outpaced single men as homebuyers, coming second only to married couples.

“Today, single women homebuyers are a force, surpassing all odds in the housing market and purchasing homes with lower household incomes in an increasingly unaffordable housing market,” says Lautz in a recent blog. “Regardless of how these single women are entering homeownership, they are finding a way and doing so at a significant pace.”

Before the passage of the Fair Housing Act’s prohibitions against sex discrimination in housing-related transactions and the protections of the Equal Credit Opportunity

Act, a widow needed a male relative as a cosigner. “Under federal law, women had no legal recourse for this or any other lending discrimination. It was not until 1974 that women were legally protected to obtain a mortgage without a co-signer,” says Lautz.

In 1981, 73% of homebuyers were married couples, 11% were single women and 10% were single men. Today, 59% of homebuyers are married couples, 19% single women, and 10% single men.

The highest share of single women buyers was 22% in 2006. The share of single men rose to a high of 12% in 2010, but has stayed between 7% and 9% in recent years.

Both men and women are most likely to say they are purchasing because they want to own a home of their own, but significantly more women purchase to be close to friends and family. Lautz says men are more likely to report buying because of a change in family situation, such as a divorce, death, or birth of a child. Also, 7% of men are more likely to cite retirement as a reason to purchase compared to women at just 4%.

Lautz says a possible reason single women outperform single men purchasing homes is because single women are more likely to have children under the age of 18 in the home and more likely to purchase a multigenerational home, which shows they may value the stability of homeownership.

With regard to finances, Lautz found women homebuyers typically purchase a home as a firsttime buyer at a household income of $69,600 compared to single men at a higher income of $83,800. “This may be one reason why the age of a single woman as a firsttime buyer is a median of 38 while men have a median age of 33 as firsttime buyers,” says Lautz.

It also appears that

45% of women make financial sacrifices compared to 40% of men who purchase homes. Common financial sacrifices include cutting spending on non-essential goods, entertainment, clothes, and taking on a second job.

While savings and sale from the last home are the most common sources for both single men and single women, men use savings at higher rates while women use the sale of their last home at higher rates. Men are also more likely to sell stock or bonds, use their IRA, crypto currency, or take a loan from their 401k/retirement at 20% compared to women at 15%. Thirteen percent of single women use a gift from a friend or relative for their down payment compared to 11% of single men.

From Lautz analysis, Eileen Giorgi, president of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, says one can glean that the surge of single women making real estate purchases “shows financial independence. They are investing in their own futures and defining success on their terms.”