Over the last decade up until now, single women remain a vital market in the real estate industry, particularly in home buying. In a presentation of profile types of home buyers by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), single women are the second largest group of home buyers for the years 2010 to 2013. They comprise between 16 to 20 percent of the total number of home buyers per year, almost double to that of single men who hold between 9 to 12 percent only, but next to married couples who hold around 60% of the total home buyers. These single women had an average age of 49 with an average income of $52,200 annually. According to the same study, the most popular reason for buying a home among single women was simply their desire to own one. Other reasons include proximity to family and friends, affordability, and family changes.
This trend has been going on since 1990s when times have really changed. According to a post at New York Times, entitled “Homeownership: Where Single Women Prevail”, the probable reason why more single women are buying homes is because more single women have become breadwinners starting in the 1990s. Being in this position, they have the reason and the financial capability to buy homes. Women in the past few decades have started to be employed and have ventured into business and make money on their own without depending on men, particularly their husbands, to provide for them. Women have shown financial independence from men from then on.
A study previously conducted by the NAR last 2003, also concluded that this high percentage of single women buying homes is caused by high rates of divorce, delayed marriages, as well as longer life expectancies. After getting divorced, many women, who now become single, are financially free. They are able to buy what they want and invest in anything they think are wise to invest in, including buying a home. The recent trend also shows that women marry at a later age and that they do not wait to get married before they buy a home. According to the US Bureau of Census, the median age by which women had their first marriage in US is 26.2 years old in the year 2010 as compared to 22 years old during the 1980s. All these factors cause the significance of single women in home buying.
Many may wonder, how about the single men? Well, the answer is not definite, but men just probably tend to buy a home only when they get married and have a family.
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