International Women’s Day
On this International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate how far we’ve come for one of the biggest tools for wealth creation in the history of the United States: owning your own home. A 2023 report by the online lending marketplace, Lending Tree, analyzed the data from the 2021 U.S. Census and discovered that single women now own more homes than single men despite earning on average of $0.83 for every dollar a man makes. Single women are more likely to own homes than single men in 48 out of 50 states.
This is especially impressive given the historical barriers women have faced to controlling our own money, property, banking, and access to credit. It was only 50 years ago that Ruth Bader Ginsburg laid the foundation for the passage for the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, allowing women to apply for credit or take out a loan without a male cosigner.
Why do more single women own their home vs. single men? Evidence suggests that single women prioritize home ownership more than single men and are willing to make more sacrifices to make it happen. Demographics are changing as well. According to the Pew Research Center, single women under 30 now earn at least as much as single men under 30 in most major metropolitan areas. For older women, longer life expectancies leave single women the sole owners of properties formerly owned with a spouse.
During my real estate career, over 50% of my transactions have been with single women. While challenges persist such as high interest rates, lack of affordable housing, and the historic exclusion of people of color leading to a lack of generational wealth, owning your own home remains one of the key ways to build not only wealth, but a sense of pride, stability and belonging. I recently heard from a client who I helped to purchase her own home after a divorce. She had finished a remodeling project and sent me a photo saying - “I love my new kitchen! It feels just like me!”
Isn’t it beautiful?
