Single Women Add Fuel to Housing Market

By: Noelle Knox: REALTOR® Magazine Online
While the number of unmarried men and women purchasing their own homes was virtually even 25 years ago, single females have pulled way ahead of their male counterparts in recent years.

In 2005, they bought 20 percent of all U.S. homes sold — about 1.5 million properties, or more than double the 9 percent purchased by single males. Changes in the mortgage lending industry have contributed largely to the shift in home buying demographics.

"There have been so many advances and innovations in the market to respond to [single female buyers]," according to Mortgage Bankers Association Chairman Regina Lowrie, who cites as an example the fact that lenders now will factor in alternative forms of credit history, such as bill payment records, for female applicants who do not have credit established under their own names.

Lenders also help single women become homeowners by including child support as income to help qualify for financing and by categorizing divorcees as first-time buyers, even if they had purchased property with a former spouse.