21% of houses sold these days are to single women.

What Women Want

It’s a mancession in real estate, too. A new study from Sphere Trending, in partnership with Inforum, the Michigan women’s executive group, reports that women continue to dominate the shrunken ranks of home buyers. They want homes of their own and they’re not afraid to pick up a hammer to get them.

21% of houses sold these days are to single women. That’s double what it was in 1999. Meanwhile, single men are buying houses at half the rate they used to. Getting married later is driving much of this trend. Young, well educated women have the narrowest pay gap of all female demographics. If they want houses, they can afford them.

Across all ages, women have strong expectations for customizing their homes to suit their age and life stages:
Boomers want:

• A few luxury amenities
• One-story living for aging in place
• Guest quarters

Gen X, in the middle of raising families, wants:

• Smaller, easier to care for footprints
• Open floor plans that revolve around the kitchen
• Lots of built-in storage

Millennials settling into their first homes crave:

• Urban lofts

And…surprise! Women are getting into do-it-yourself renovation.

• Gen X women are the most dedicated DIY’ers, representing two-thirds of those who report spending 40 hours a month or more on projects
• 90% of women homeowners are ‘strongly involved’ in home improvement decisions
• 25% of women homeowners take the home-improvement hammer in hand by themselves
• 60% of women homeowners tackle DIY projects with their spouses
• 77% of women are confident using the power tools they own

All of this has clear implications for home sellers.

• Do-it-yourself is becoming the default approach for homeownership. That supports the trend towards ‘by owner’ selling.
• Sellers need to carefully calibrate their improvements to appeal not just to women but to the target market for the house. You will capture maximum return with carefully chosen improvements.
• A potential buyer who is a woman may well be a high-potential prospect. Make sure that you welcome her and respect her buying power.

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Posted by ForSaleByOwner.com at 12:45 PM

ForSaleByOwner.com: Blog: What Women Want