Top 5 tips for property investing
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Erin Munro is a 32-year-old journalist, and she just bought her first home. She struck out on her own to buy a Melbourne apartment, part of a growing trend of single women becoming first-home buyers.
Ms Munro outgrew share houses and decided that it made the most financial sense to pay off a mortgage. "I thought about renting," she said. "But when I calculated the amount I'd spend as a single person would be pretty much the same as a mortgage, it made more sense to put that money towards something I could eventually benefit from."
On top of that, Ms Munro wanted a place she could really call home. "I wanted to make a home that was really mine – my furniture, my look," she said. "I'm a bit of an introvert, so having a space to unwind at the end of the day makes a difference."
Five years ago, 32-year-old Aftyn Rockes bought her first house in her home town in Bendigo. "I'm down in Melbourne but I bought it as an investment property," she said. "I have considered buying down in Melbourne but I don't want to live too far out of the city and it's too expensive these days."
![Mortgage Choice research shows single women are outpacing men as first home buyers.](/content/dam/images/g/s/5/w/g/e/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gtyl39.png/1485324018463.jpg)
Ms Rockes had just received a pay rise and wanted to be smart about spending her money. "It's a good way to invest your money," she said. "I'd been toying with the idea for a while."
Mortgage Choice's buyer data shows the majority of first-home buyers are still couples, but single women are outpacing men.
The number of single first-home buyers has decreased year on year from 2015 to 2016, but the ratio of women to men is increasing.
In 2015, 27.7 per cent of first-home buyers bought by themselves and of that 55.2 per cent were women. Last year 25.8 per cent bought alone and of that 60.6 per cent were women.
The percentage of women against the total pool of first-home buyers was 15.6 per cent in 2016, up marginally on 2015. The percentage of men fell 2 per cent, from 12 to 10.
![Academics say young women are more attracted to the independence of owning their own home.](/content/dam/images/g/t/u/n/v/0/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1485313801029.jpg)
Mortgage Choice general manager Neil Rose-McInnes said women tended to be better at saving than men. "Women can be more conservative in their spending habits," he said. "Once they set themselves a goal they can be more restrained around spending money."
Mr Rose-McInnes also suggested that men were more likely to want to wait for a partner to come along. "They might be more inclined to find that security by settling down with a partner," he said. He also believed that the number of men buying by themselves could also rise again in future.
"It's probably cyclical and these things happen from time to time," he said. "I think they're still doing it, it's just taking them more time than usual."
Place real estate agent Tammy Dale said she had not seen nearly as many men buying alone as women. "I've seen an increase in single women buying by themselves," she said. "In the last week I've had two women looking for townhouses."
![Erin Munro saved for years to snag her first home, a one bedroom apartment in Melbourne.](/content/dam/images/g/t/v/2/b/j/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1485313801089.jpg)
Ms Dale said better access to education had empowered women to step out on their own. "I think they're becoming more savvy with the market," she said. "And I think the younger generation is becoming more educated and wanting to invest."
Ms Munro said she knew of very few single men buying their own home. "Anecdotally, I have several single female friends who own their own home," she said. "Most people I know who are homeowners are either couples or single women."
Head of Curtin University's Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Professor Steven Rowley said that it may not be a lasting trend.
"In my experience women tend to be much more likely to complete these surveys than men and that will skew the results," he said. "However, you can probably draw from the data a general conclusion that women are more likely to buy their first home alone than males.
![Neil Rose-McInnes says that in his experience, women tend to be better at saving money.](/content/dam/images/g/r/p/i/z/v/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1485313801162.jpg)
"It is possible women are more likely than men to want the security offered by home ownership when compared to renting or the independence offered by buying alone."
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