Estate agents and bond originators say there is a steady increase in the number of women buying property more than they did four years ago.
According to bond originator, ooba, the ratio of women to men in single person home loan application increased from 36.53 percent in January 2007 to a current level of 46.94 percent.
In total, single person applications presently make up 49.65 percent of ooba’s applications compared to 50.35 percent of joint applications.
“A steady increase in the number of women in the workplace, particularly those in top managerial level jobs which command higher income earnings has helped to shift the balance towards a more equal ratio among home buyers,” says Jenny Rushin, ooba Western Cape provincial sales manager.
Furthermore, ooba says only about 5 percent of its home loan applications in the past few months comprised of buyers purchasing for investment purposes. It would then be reasonable to say the majority of female buyers are currently purchasing properties to live in.
Tony Ketcher, managing director of Seeff Properties in Randburg says they are seeing an increase in the number of single women purchasing properties in the greater Randburg area in Johannesburg.
“It is encouraging to see women investing in their future and to watch the shift in attitudes as women become more aware and financially empowered,” says Ketcher.
Ketcher says that in South Africa, independent single women view buying a home as a way of remaining independent and as a financial investment in their future. Women also feel that bond repayments are a better use of money than paying rent.
“Since the beginning of the year, 24 percent of property sales were to women buyers in their own names not as partners in a marriage or otherwise,” he says.
These women are buying properties priced from R800 000 to R1.5million homes in suburbs which tend to have a larger number of starter homes in areas including Weltervredenpark, Sundowner and the West Rand. Some popular suburbs in which women buy into include Fairlands, Ferndale and Roosevelt Park.
Many of these buyers are first time buyers who do their research, ask relevant questions and rely on input from the estate agents. However, says Ketcher, the majority of buyers are knowledgeable and know exactly what they want to buy.
Ketcher says this trend seems to be a global phenomenon. According to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, record numbers of single women are buying homes. In the US, more than one in five home buyers is a single woman, twice as many unmarried women are buying homes than single men and single women make up more than one-third of the growth in real estate ownership since 1994.
In the UK a number of single women are buying properties. A recent study published by Post Office Mortgages reveals that nearly two million women in the UK are looking to buy their first property in the immediate future.
The study revealed that women tend to buy at a younger age than men and approximately 1.8 million young women aged between 18 and 34 are ready to enter the property market. – Denise Mhlanga
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