Why some women care more about buying a home than having a baby
ANALYSIS | It’s a different biological clock
Adapted from a story by Cara Strickland for The Washington Post.
It’s not unusual to hear that single women are more likely to buy homes on their own more than single men.
Statistics back this up, too.
- According to the National Association of Realtors, single women made up 18 percent of home buyers from July 2016 to June of 2017, a number that has risen for the third straight year.
- Behind couples, single women are the largest group of home buyers.
- Single men purchase homes in much smaller numbers: They made up just 7 percent of buyers within that same period.
Though women and men are getting closer to wage parity, women still earn less than men. So income alone doesn’t explain the gap between single male and female home buyers.
A bit of history
Unlike men, women haven’t always been able to purchase homes on their own. As recently as the 1970s, women needed a male relative’s signature to apply for any kind of credit.
“Women are making a lot more money and are capable of making more money than they were in the past on their own,” says Sarah Minka Jackson, a Realtor in Los Angeles. “We’re in a time where being a strong, independent woman is on the rise, so I think that women are coming out of the mind-set of ‘I need to be married to buy a house,’ ‘I need to have a family.’ Now it’s like ‘I can do this myself. I don’t need to wait for anybody.’ ”
A different biological clock
Meghan Daum, a Los Angeles Times opinion columnist and author of “Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House,” posits that the female urge to own a home might be similar to some women’s biological clocks. “I never had a biological clock with actual children, I had no interest in having a baby, so a lot of the energy that other people would devote to having a baby I would devote to having a house. If somebody had a great apartment or something I would have major envy,” she says.
Even if they do want kids some day, Daum has noticed a moment in her female friends’ lives when they become more interested in decorating their homes and buying furniture than in shopping for clothes. “It’s not that you’ve given up on your appearance, but somehow it’s so much more interesting to think about the aesthetics of your space than the aesthetics of yourself,” she said.
And when Daum purchased her first home, she found that it met her expectations.
“It kind of lived up to the hype,” said Daum. “I just felt like I was at home.”
