Wealth gap widens for women in property

The property ownership gap between men and women is closing but the recent housing boom has seen the difference in wealth creation through the sector widen quite dramatically.

As rates of female home ownership improve, the next issue emerging is access to wealth creation.

The property ownership gap between men and women is closing but the recent housing boom has caused the difference in wealth ­creation through the sector widen dramatically.

CoreLogic’s annual Women & Property report shows men are more likely to own investment properties and freestanding houses which often garner more capital gains than units which are favoured by women, likely due to the more affordable entry point.

Women own just over a quarter (26.6 per cent) of the stock of residential homes owned by one person, while men own one in three (29.9 per cent), which was a slight improvement on last year’s findings. The report suggests around 70 per cent of the gender discrepancy in ownership is accounted for by the holding of investment properties.

In the year to January, housing prices spiked 22.4 per cent nationally, driving the value of the residential market from just over $7 trillion to $9.7 trillion. But the rises were not uniform across all property types and exaggerated long-term growth trends between houses and units, which have 10-year annualised growth rates of 6.2 per cent per annum and 4.1 per cent per annum respectively. Men show a preference for houses, owning 28.5 per cent of all properties, compared to women who have a higher ­incidence of unit ownership (35.2 per cent).

CoreLogic’s head of research, Eliza Owen said the latest data shows that men are in a better position to take advantage of strong conditions.

“What this means is that house owners accrue a lot more value over time compared to unit owners. The nominal gains in the median Australian house value over the past decade totalled around $340,000, compared with $197,000 for the median unit gain,” Ms Owen said.