Women are winning real estate
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Single women own more homes than single men — and overall homeownership is now majority female.
Why it matters: Sixty years ago, women couldn't even get a credit card or a mortgage without a male cosigner. Now, the share of single women homeowners eclipses that of single men.
Driving the news: Solo women mortgage applicants made up 18% of the market in 2023 — a share that's slowly grown since mortgage platform Maxwell started tracking applicants' gender and marital status in 2021.
- 1 in 3 women with partners bought alone because they were in a stronger financial position to do so, Maxwell's annual Single Women Home Buyer Report found.
State of play: Single women own an average of roughly 13% of the owner-occupied homes across the 50 states, versus 10.2% among single men, per a LendingTree analysis of census data.
- Delaware, Louisiana and Mississippi have the highest shares of single women homeowners.
- Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota are the only states where single men own a larger share of homes compared to women.
What they're saying: We're seeing a rise in the number of women homeowners — and a strong shift toward women-led households, Urban Institute researcher Jung Hyun Choi tells Axios.
By the numbers: In 1990, less than a third of total households (married and single) were headed by females. In 2021, the majority (51%) of households reported being female-headed.
- That increase was mostly driven by married households, Choi says.
- In married households, 43% claimed to be female-headed in 2021, compared to just 8% in 1990.
Of note: In most age groups, women outnumber men. "This is more a reflection of strength in numbers than economic vitality," Pew researcher Richard Fry tells Axios.
The other side: Opportunity isn't equal. Single Latina and Black women have the lowest homeownership rates of any group in the U.S.
- "39% of Latinas who are single and live alone owned a home in 2021, compared to close to 62% of non-Hispanic white women in similar circumstances," Axios' Astrid Galván reports.
- Single women with children also face low homeownership rates compared to other groups, including single men with children, Choi's research shows.
The intrigue: Maxwell's report shows Gen Zers and millennials made up the largest share of single women mortgage applicants in 2023.
Editor's note: The map has been updated with 2022 figures, the latest data available. An earlier version showed data from 2021.
