'A savvy investment': Single women own more homes than single men
CAMBRIDGE - Single women are racing ahead of men in homeownership.
"It's very exciting," said realtor Livia Monteforte. "We're seeing a lot more single women making the leap into second homeownership on the Cape. Primary homeownership in Boston and the suburbs."
And the statistics back it up. LendingTree took a look at the latest census data and found single women own more homes than single men in 48 out of 50 states including Massachusetts.
Penny Antonoglou doesn't have a husband or children, but she does have two homes: one in Cambridge and another on Cape Cod. "I like stability and I've always wanted a place to own and make it my own," said Antonoglou.
It's something she's proud of earning on her own. "It's an indication of stronger feelings of self-reliance," Antonoglou said.
Her realtor has seen that shift too, despite women earning less than men across many industries. "Women now are taking the lead, taking the charge, and saying I'm going to do it now," Livia Monteforte said. "It's a savvy investment."
Wellesley College economics professor Olga Shurchkov says she's not surprised that single women are outpacing single men. "For homeownership, it requires borrowing and saving by buyers and women have been shown to take less financial risk, save more," Shurchkov said.
Shurchkov says the demographic of single men also leans younger, while single women skew older, giving them more earning power.
It doesn't mean single women are banking more money, though. "Even for the same level of negotiating, for the same level of confidence, women tend to be given a higher starting price to begin with," Shurchkov said. "So there is that outcome that women pay more and then they gain less."
But it's an encouraging sign that women are becoming more financially independent.
"In the end, years later you realize it was the right decision," Antonoglou said.