Women challenged on property investment

Australian women are underrepresented when it comes to property investment, new research shows.

CoreLogic's 2025 Women & Property report, which surveyed home ownership status together with motivations, barriers and attitudes towards dwelling ownership among women and men in Australia, has revealed that residential property investment was higher among males (14.2 per cent) than females (11.4 per cent).

CoreLogic head of research and report author Eliza Owen said the presence of a ‘gender investment gap’ for women generally is an established concept, and that a significantly high portion of women reported not having any investments (40 per cent), compared to 27.8 per cent of men.

Ms Owen said that overall there is strong parity in ownership between men and women, with the report finding that 64.4 per cent of men and 62.7 per cent of women own at least one residential dwelling, whether as a home or investment.

“That's likely because of affordability drivers, leading to the formation of dual-income households as Australians become older and attain ownership of a family home”, she added.

“For those who do not own a home or investment property, they potentially miss out on strong value gains that typically outpace growth in incomes.”

Breaking down the data by age, the greatest discrepancy in ownership of investment property was among Gen Z respondents - the generation born between 1997 and 2012.

Based on the survey results, 13.8 per cent of young men had at least one investment property compared to 6.4 per cent of young women.

The smallest discrepancy was among Baby Boomers, where roughly 10 per cent of men and 11.3 per cent of women owned at least one residential investment property.

As with many Australians, Owen said affordability was a key barrier facing women – particularly younger women.

“While the report points to a promising parity between males and females of dwelling ownership in Australia, there were discrepancies and more work to be done to empower women with respect to dwelling ownership and investment.”

“While the pay gap has been declining over time in Australia, this survey still finds a greater portion of women than men report challenges of accessing the housing market related to saving a deposit, high prices, and being approved for a loan due to financial conditions”, she concluded.