Georgia's single women own the real estate market

Why it matters: Sixty years ago, women couldn't get a credit card or a mortgage without a male co-signer. Now, the share of single women homeowners eclipses 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.

• One 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: Census data shows single women own nearly 19% of Georgia's homes, compared to 9.1% of single men.

What they're saying: We're seeing a strong shift toward women-led households, Urban Institute researcher Jung Hyun Choi tells Axios.

By the numbers: Women were the primary breadwinners in less than a third of total households (married and single) in 1990. In 2021, the majority (51%) were women-headed.

• That increase was largely 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 mothers also face low homeownership rates compared to other groups, including single fathers, 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.