Joint homeownership on the rise as affordability bites
Women continue to trail men when it comes to homeownership as joint homeownership becomes a popular option amid crippling interest rate hikes and falling home prices, according to a new CoreLogic report.
CoreLogic’s 2023 Women & Property report showed that the proportion of single-sex property ownership in New Zealand fell year-on-year for women and men, as mixed-gendered homeownership increased.
The report said men own 0.5% more of the housing stock than women. That’s 8,149 more properties owned by men than women.
Female-only ownership of dwellings was 22%, compared to 22.5% of male-only ownership, while property owned jointly between men and women was 55.5%.
Eliza Owen (pictured above), CoreLogic report author, said that rather than gender property gap closing, it’s more likely that joint homeownership is 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,” Owen said. “Interestingly, when compared with Australia, NZ has a significantly higher portion of mixed-gendered and joint same-sex ownership.
“This rise in mixed-gender ownership is a counter-trend to what was seen over the previous two years, however analysis of more New Zealand properties this year may have contributed to the change in results.”
Kelvin Davidson, CoreLogic chief property economist, said the rise in joint ownership was due to Kiwis finding a way onto the property ladder.
“The analysis follows a stark shift in housing market conditions, from rapid, broad-based growth in values to a reversal, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifting the cash rate by 350 basis points in the 2022 calendar year,” Davidson said. “It’s not surprising to see a lift in joint ownership given the sheer unaffordability of property over recent years.”
Gender disparity is more prominent when it comes to investment property, with men owning 26.4% of the investment properties analysed versus 21.3% for women.
“Most of the discrepancy between male and female ownership of property could be explained by ownership of investments,” Owen said. “There were some hot spots where women did actually own more of the investment stock analysed than men. These were generally the areas that women had high ownership of dwellings overall, including the TA regions of Carterton (21.1%), Whakatane (21.9%), and Kapiti Coast (21.5%).”
The top region for female homeownership was Whanganui District (26.5%). It was followed closely by the Kawerau District (26.4%), the South Waikato District (25.4%), and Invercargill City (25.3%).
Aside from Auckland City, which had a relatively high rate of female homeownership (25.1%), these high female ownership areas are typically more rural or provincial and affordable.
“The relatively low-price points within these markets may make home ownership more attainable for women,” she said. “Areas with relatively low rates of female homeownership were not only more expensive, such as Selwyn (where rates of female ownership were 15.4% and the median dwelling value was around $740,000), but some were popular tourist destinations, such as Mackenzie (with a female homeownership rate of 13.8%), Southland District (15.1%). Such areas may have more investment properties, where males were also seen to be more active across the market.”
Interestingly, the reverse is happening in Australia, where there is a higher portion of homeownership among women in more expensive, blue-chip markets around Sydney, due probably to the higher presence of apartment/townhouse units in the main cities.
Davidson said labour market structure may play a role in gender ownership rates.
“Certainly, in areas such Buller, Westland, and Grey, the traditional employers such as mining and agriculture would tend to be more male-oriented, helping them to have a higher homeownership rate,” he said.
Click here to download the CoreLogic 2023 Women & Property report.
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