Most young first-time buyers get help from parents, a survey by Royal LePage finds
Derrick Penner and Mario Toneguzzi
Sun
Vancouver realtor Michele Collins always reckoned that women were the driving force in real estate markets.
Recently though, Collins has noticed that more and more single women — including young, first-time buyers — are wielding influence, which seems to mirror a national survey by realty firm Royal Le-Page.
“I’d say at the beginning of my career [18 years ago], I didn’t see the number of single women buying in the market that I see now by any stretch of the imagination,” Collins, an agent with Royal LePage Westside Realty, said in an interview.
The Royal LePage Female Buyers Report, released Tuesday, found about 30 per cent of single, never-before married women own their own home, while 45 per cent of divorced or separated women, and 64 per cent of widowed women are homeowners.
Poll results also found that of the single, never-before married women who are not yet homeowners, 31 per cent said they will potentially purchase a home within three years.
In Vancouver, Collins said women look at home ownership as “an optimal way to take control of their financial security.”
And in Vancouver’s high-flying market, even first-time buyers are confidently plunking down $300,000 to $400,000 on condominiums in prime locations such as Kitsilano or downtown, but often with a bit of help from their parents.
Most of Collins’s young, first-time buyers do get parental help, “whether it’s investing jointly with their daughter, or whether [parents] are giving them an inheritance ahead of time as a gift.”
However, Collins’s female clients in their 40s and 50s are coming into the market with equity they’ve built up either on their own or during previous relationships, and often opt for half duplexes or townhouses over $700,000.
Brenda Bouw, author of Home Girl: The Single Woman’s Guide to Buying Real Estate in Canada, said women are not waiting any more to purchase homes.
“Why stick around for that white picket fence, two-car garage, mini-van dream that some people have, when you can sort of invest early and build equity,” Bouw said.
Bouw added that women are becoming more independent financially and have more earning power in the business world, so owning real estate becomes a lifestyle decision.
“It’s an achievement to have your own place,” she said.
The Royal LePage survey’s key findings include:
– Of the women who intend to purchase a home within the next three years, 56 per cent are willing to participate in bidding wars, compared with only 49 per cent of men who are willing to compete.
– 25 per cent of women said they are looking for a “fixer-upper,” and plan to do renovations themselves.
– 34 per cent of women who plan to buy a first home within the next three years said they would rather save money for a down payment than spend it on a wedding reception, compared with 27 per cent of men.
– Of women who have already purchased, their top three motivations were: it makes more sense than renting (36 per cent), want to put my money into a good investment (22 per cent), and pride of ownership (13 per cent).
Maritz Research conducted the telephone survey among a representative random sample of 1,002 Canadian females and 1,000 males aged 18 and older.
Within the female and male sample sizes, the results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20 for both. Interviews were conducted between Feb. 15 and Feb. 20.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007