NZ women trail men in home ownership stakes

A large gender discrepancy in the ownership of investment properties has men owning 26.4 per cent of investment properties versus 21.3 per cent for women. Photo / 123rf, File

From RNZ

Women continue to trail men in homeownership as housing affordability makes joint ownership a more popular option.

CoreLogic’s 2023 Women & Property report released ahead of International Women’s Day on Wednesday shows a year-on-year drop in the number of single-sex property owners in New Zealand while mixed-gendered home ownership has increased.

The study found men own 0.5 per cent more homes than women, which works out to 8149 more properties.

Female-only ownership of dwellings was 22 per cent, compared to male-only ownership at 22.5 per cent, while property jointly owned between men and women was 55.5 per cent.

In a statement, CoreLogic report author Eliza Owen said while it looked like the gender property gap was small or closing, it was more likely that joint home ownership was becoming more popular.

“It is possible that affordability constraints have pushed more purchasing decisions to be made by two or more home buyers together than individually. Interestingly, when compared with Australia, New Zealand has a significantly higher portion of mixed-gendered and joint same-sex ownership,” she said.

CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen. Photo / Supplied

Owen said there was still a large gender discrepancy in the ownership of investment properties with men owning 26.4 per cent of investment properties versus 21.3 per cent for women.

CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said women tended to own a higher percentage of cheaper homes in rural areas or central city apartments.