Gen Z women half as likely to own property as men of that age, according to CoreLogic report

Young women in Australia are half as likely to own a property than their male contemporaries, a new report has shown.

Just 27.3 per cent of Gen Z women (aged between 18 and 29) owned a property, compared with 51.6 per cent of men the same age CoreLogic’s Woman and Property report, released on International Women’s Day found.

The findings are based on a survey of 1006 Australians aged 18 and over.

It also found however that across all ages women were slightly more likely to own a property, with 68.2 per cent of women saying they owned at least one residential property, compared with 67.4 per cent of men.

CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said the stark difference in male and female home-ownership in Gen Z was a key finding in the report, as other generations had relative gender parity with home ownership.

“It’s clear that young women are overrepresented in part-time and casual employment relative to their male counterparts and as a result they have lower income levels on average,” Ms Owen said.

“Based on the state of ownership in Gen Z, it suggests that young men are getting onto the property ladder sooner, and that could affect the accumulation of wealth over time and that could affect the amount of debt that’s held overtime as well.”

“Young men are getting onto the property ladder sooner, and that could affect the accumulation of wealth over time,” said CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen.

The report showed that of the respondents who did own property, the men’s portfolios were higher in value and they were also in less debt on their properties than the women.

Ms Owen said this meant women had an average of about 5.5 per cent less equity in their properties than men, which was not that big of a difference, meaning it was important to consider ownership of other assets.

“There’s a gap of about 25 per cent between men and women’s super balances,” she said.

Significantly more men had superannuation balances at all, as well as investment properties, shares, cryptocurrencies and business investments. Women had a slightly higher share of long-term bank deposits and land.

“Shares and cryptocurrencies — things that might be traditionally thought of as a little bit more financially sophisticated or require a little bit more knowledge about economics and finance — is where we’re seeing the biggest gap between men and women,” Ms Owen said.

She said it highlighted the need to encourage women to be educated about their finances and economics in general.

In Gen Z, the survey suggests, young men are getting onto the property ladder sooner, and that could affect the accumulation of wealth over time.

“Overtime there have been falling rates of women enrolled in economics, there’s been a lot of work done around the financial literacy gap between men and women,” she said.

One of the report’s findings was that “greater intervention at the high school and university level to familiarise young females with concepts of economics, finance and investment may help to bridge the investment gap, not just across property, but a range of asset classes.”

“What this report also highlights is that that really shifts when people are older and they start forming these dual income households and partnering up - that’s when we start to see a lot more parity in ownership,” Ms Owen said.

However, she said there was a danger in women’s property ownership being tied to their romantic partner, particularly in the face of a relationship breakdown and if women have less super and lower incomes.

“It does come down to individual circumstances, but there is a risk there,” she said.

This article was originally published on view.com.au.