More single Chinese women are buying homes: report

by reachhome on 2019年4月6日

The number of single female home buyers over the age of 30 has been increasing in China, according to Beike, a Chinese real estate platform.

The report combed data on second-hand housing transactions in 12 major cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, and surveyed around 1,000 women aged between 18 and 50.

In 2018, about 47.9 percent of the second-hand home buyers were women, up from 30 percent in 2014, the report said.

Meanwhile, about 47 percent of single women over the age of 30 have bought apartments, the report said.

“The rise in the number of single women homeowners shows the elevated social and economic status of women in China,” said Liu Lu, professor of economics at Southwest University of Finance and Economics.

As more women are educated and highly-paid in big cities, the trend is likely to expand, she said.

Zhang Yan, a 31-year-old graduate of the prestigious Tsinghua University, bought a 50-square-meter apartment in Beijing.

“I pay 7,000 yuan (US$1,040) for the monthly mortgage payment, but the loan hardly has any impact on the quality of my life,” she said.

Among the number of single female buyers, 45 percent of them need financial help from parents when purchasing a house, and 29 percent said they paid for it on their own, the report said.

“Many Chinese parents chipped in for the down payment as a support and also an investment,” said Liu.

Real estate developers are catering to the needs of higher-earning women in apartment design with larger dressing spaces and wardrobes.