Single Australians are not waiting for partners and instead are buying property on their own

Single Australians are not waiting to meeting a partner to buy property. Instead, more and more are now making the leap alone, with 60 per cent of First Home Loan Deposit Scheme applicants being single.

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Unlucky in love single females are more likely to buy property solo than their male counterparts and are working hard to save up a chunky deposit.

New data from Mortgage Choice showed one in three women are likely to go it alone when buying a home – this has increased from previous data showing one in four were likely to buy alone.

But females believe it is tougher to save up a stash of cash without help from a partner – 27 per cent say it is extremely hard versus just 16 per cent of men.

Account co-ordinator Danielle Taylor, 27, from Marylands in greater western Sydney, has stayed living at home with her parents to help fast track her savings goal.
She has worked full-time for three years and has managed to stash about a 10 per cent deposit for a property between $700,000 to $800,000.

Account co-ordinator Danielle Taylor, 27, is looking to buy her first property, a two-bedroom unit in Sydney's northern suburbs on her own. Picture: Damian Shaw

“I’m looking for an investment property and then depending on how things go I’ll consider living in it,” she said.

“I want to buy a two-bedroom apartment which will help with investing because I know people would look more for a two bedroom than a one bedroom.”

Ms Taylor said it was “disheartening” going to auctions and offers were much higher than what she was able to put forward, a downside of buying property alone.

Mortgage Choice chief executive officer Susan Mitchell said aspiring property owners should not wait to find a partner to make their home ownership dream come true.

“Why do you have to wait to have a partner to buy a property,” she said.

“A man who would have never have done that in the past, if he wanted to buy he would have bought a property.”

But Ms Mitchell admitted it was definitely easier to pool funds with someone else to crack into the market.

“Especially with the price of property in Sydney and in Melbourne to do it with a partner is easier just with the sheer amount of money you need to get in,” Ms Mitchell said.

Latest CoreLogic figures showed in February housing values climbed by 1.1 per cent across five of the nation’s capital reaching a record high.

Annually Sydney and Melbourne received double-digit annual growth rates with values climbing up 10.9 per cent and 10.7 per cent respectively.

Australians have rushed to sign up to the Federal Government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme which kickstarted this year with 10,000 spots.

About 60 per cent of applicants were singles and their average income was $67,100.