CoreLogic’s latest report found that there is a need to empower women through greater financial literacy and property education to bring the gender gap in homeownership closer.
According to the 2023 Women & Property report, released ahead of the International Women’s Day, men were associated with ownership of 3.1% more of the housing stock analysed than women.
Women ownership of dwellings was at 26.8%, lower than men-inferred ownership at 29.9%.
Overall, the share of property owned jointly between males and females was 43.4%.
CoreLogic head of Australian research Eliza Owen said most of the discrepancy between male and female ownership of property could be explained by ownership of investments.
“Male-only names were associated with 36.3% of investment properties, which is higher than both the share of investment properties owned by women at 29.5%, and the share owned by men and women jointly 34.2%,” she said.
Hotspots where women thrive
According to the report, there were hotspots where women did actually own more of the investment supply than men.
|
SA4 Regional Name |
Share of ownership (%) |
||
|
Women |
Men |
Joint |
|
|
Sydney - North Sydney and Hornsby |
38.9 |
36.1 |
25.0 |
|
Sydney - Eastern Suburbs |
38.1 |
35.3 |
26.7 |
|
Sydney - Ryde |
37.6 |
37.3 |
25.1 |
|
Murray |
36.3 |
32.5 |
31.2 |
|
Central West |
35.4 |
32.5 |
32.0 |
|
Melbourne - Inner South |
35.1 |
33.6 |
31.3 |
|
Riverina |
34.7 |
33.9 |
31.4 |
|
Northern Territory - Outback |
32.8 |
32.4 |
34.8 |
“These were generally the areas that women had high ownership of dwellings overall,” Ms Owen said.
According to the report, women trumped men in the medium- to high-density sector by 1.1%. Meanwhile, men found to own 4.3$ more house stock in Australia.
This finding, Ms Owen said, has implications for the gender wealth gap as detached houses have been associated with higher longer-term capital gains over time.
“Detached houses, and higher-value property more broadly, has been associated with higher longer term value growth so women may be missing out on a chunk of capital gains from the Australian housing market because of the type of properties they are purchasing,” she said.
Over the past 10 years to January 2023, detached homes have achieved an annual growth rate of 5.1% per year. This is lower than the 3.4% growth recorded in the unit segment.
However, it is also crucial to note that women also tended to own more properties in markets that have a relatively high price point, which means those women who are able to access the property market may have done well in terms of long-term capital growth.
What hinders women from achieving homeownership?
While the gender pay gap in Australia has declined to 13.3% in November 2022, it remains to have a significant role in potentially contributing to women falling behind.
Still, it is important to note that the gender pay gap has already narrowed, hitting below the decade average of 16%.
“Analysis of full-time earnings of males and females suggest it would take men around 8.3 years to save up a 20% deposit for the median value in Australia for men, compared to 9.4 years for women – and that’s based on full-time wages,” Ms Owen said.
Ms Owen said there is a need to empower women through greater financial literacy and property education to erode the disparity in homeownership.
Policies like shared equity schemes could help more women attain homeownership, addressing the relatively low wages of women.
“Shared equity schemes are about targeting home ownership among relatively low-income households and providing assistance to those who might not otherwise have owned a home,” Ms Owen said.
“That’s important not just for women, but any group who is over-represented in low-income households.”
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Photo by Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels.
