What single female buyers really want in a home
Single females are becoming a factor in the Canadian housing market, estimated at represented 20 per cent of first-time buyers and a growing proportion of repeat buyers and investors.
The evidence is mostly anecdotal, but U.S. studies show that single women now account for 18 per cent of all home buyers and the trend has been accelerating over the past decade. In 2017, twice as many unmarried women are buying homes than single men in the U.S., according to a study by Harvard University. The reasons include a higher number of women with lucrative careers, a rising divorce rate and a falling marriage rate. In Canada, that rate is 4.4 marriages per 1,000 people, according to 2008 Statistic Canada data, the lowest on record.
In both Toronto and Vancouver, new condo developers say singe female buyers - both new and repeat - may represent a third of all buyers, and they share some characteristics.
Safety is a top concern, according to Sandra Rinoma, founder of the HGTV reality show
Buy Herself, that follows single women purchasing a home.
Home BUILDER culled the research and talked to Canadian urban Realtors and developers to ascertain what single women really, really want in their first home.
These are:
- A safe neighbourhood and building
- A condo or townhouse
- Two bedrooms
- Modern amenities
- No carpeting (hardwood preferred)
- An existing home rather than new
- In the city rather than the suburbs.
- Will trade size for high-grade amenities
- Close proximity to shopping and fitness centres.
- Priced at less than $300,000 (which may not be realistic in Vancouver or Toronto).
