It’s hard enough being a single buyer and competing with dual-income buyers and investors, but spare a thought for our single females, experts say.
Census data reveals a significant gender pay gap across SA’s suburbs and towns, with single women facing reduced borrowing power in all but two areas.
Analysis by Stop Renting Australia reveals the greatest pay difference in any SA area is in Roxby Downs, where the average weekly income for men is $2294 a week, compared with $1287 for women.
This equates to a difference of $52,369.72 a year, putting female purchasers on a single income severely on the backfoot when in competition with a single-income man from the same suburb.
Women are on the backfoot in many areas when competing for homes against men who earn more than them. Picture: Getty Images
Single-income females in Beaumont-Glen Osmond experience the second-highest difference in earning, and by extension, borrowing power, bringing in some $25,487.64 less than their male counterparts each year.
Stop Renting Australia marketing and brand manager Tabitha Greaves said the gender pay gap exposed in the data was unsurprising.
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“I feel like if you speak to any woman in any marketplace this won’t come as a surprise and sadly it affects everything else in life … it affects getting into property and I feel that gap which is quite stark in some areas needs to be bridged,” she said.
“We need to close the gap.”
Ms Greaves said many justified the gender divide issue in terms of celebrities or on sports fields, but that it hits much closer to home than many, particularly men, might think.
Buying a home is hard enough, and that’s even before you consider there’s an earning disparity across the genders. Picture: Getty Images
“Currently to qualify for a $747,000 home, a single applicant has to be on $142,000 and you need to have a five per cent deposit, with no kids and no debts,” she said.
“That’s a unicorn, and let’s just say you’re a single mum – she’s disqualified because she’s a single applicant with dependants.
“With the gender wage gap, it doesn’t just affect your take home pay, it means lower savings which means slower savings, smaller borrowing limits and all of these things amount to fewer options, and that’s why we’re seeing a lot of single applicants and single women renting for longer.”
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Surprisingly, the data revealed there were two areas where women’s borrowing capacity gave them an edge over their male counterparts.
These were in the APY Lands where women, on average, earn $5190.12 more than men annually, and Coober Pedy, where they are $2917.72 ahead.
Ms Greaves said it was encouraging to see some women actually out-earning men in some areas.
“At the end of the day it’s not a competition, it’s about affordability and it’s about us bringing as much value to the marketplace as a man would and so I think being recognised for your value – that’s what all of us want at the end of the day, whether you’re male or female,” she said.
Courtney Turner, who has recently bought her own home, at her rental property. Pic Roy VanDerVegt
Courtney Turner, 40, has just bought a house and land package in Seaton as a single mum, after having previously owned a home with a former partner.
She said the path to home ownership had been challenging.
“It’s degrading and discriminating to know I earn less than a man, and that just puts me at more of a disadvantage when trying to buy a home,” she said.
“But I’m proud that I’ve done it, and if I can give one woman in the same situation the slightest bit of hope that they can do it too then that would be my dream come true because it is hard but we can do it.”
Blackfish Finance founder Leah Busby.
Black Fish Finance founder and mortgage broker Leah Busby, who helped Ms Turner buy a home, said saving a deposit was a challenge for most buyers.
“It’s all about doing the best you can to save and then getting good advice and really either you, or an expert, shopping around to get the best deal you can,” she said.
“Most buyers want to buy in the suburb they grew up in and where their parents still live, and in a lot of instances it’s about trying to broaden that thinking to find more affordable alternatives.”
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