Winners in the singles game

An increasing number of women are going it alone to get into the housing market

- NICOLA FIELD

High property prices suggest it usually takes two people to buy a home. Maybe not. CoreLogic’s 2021 Women and Property report shows that across Australia’s $7 trillion housing market, more than half the nation’s properties belong to sole owners.

More than one in four (26%) belongs exclusively to a woman, while 30% are owned by a man. CoreLogic found less than half (44%) are owned by couples.

These figures gel with what Deslie Taylor, principal of Mortgage Choice in Ormeau, Queensland, is seeing in the market: an increasing number of home buyers are going solo. “Around 30%-35% of my clients are single home buyers, and the split between men and women is even – about 50:50. I’m also seeing young women who may be in a relationship but who no longer feel reliant on their partner to help them buy a home.”

Among Taylor’s solo clients, around one in two are first home buyers. The rest are either current homeowners looking to upgrade or buy an investment property, or people buying on their own after a relationship breakdown.

The good news is that buying solo should not mean being penalised with a higher interest rate. According to Taylor, there is no difference between the rate you’ll pay on a mortgage whether you’re buying alone or as part of a couple. “The rate comes down to the lender, the deposit and the how much of the property’s value you borrow – in other words, the loan to valuation ratio (LVR).”

Nonetheless, lone buyers face one hurdle that can be especially challenging. Caylum Merrick, team leader of finance at Perth-based property specialists Momentum Wealth, says a solo buyer’s ability to land a home loan “depends on the income situation of the individual buyer”.