Gender equality among Key2 Realty investment property owners

Key2 Realty is gratified to see no gender disparity among our landlords, which is in contrast to CoreLogic's 2023 Women and Property report. Of the investment properties under our management, 44% are owned by couples, men own 28% and women own 28%.

Key2 Realty was pleased to be a sponsor and attend the recent International Women's Day Luncheon, hosted by Business Wyong. Female leaders from our parent company, Pacific Link Housing, joined us at the luncheon to celebrate connection and collaboration within the business community.

Business Manager of Key2 Realty, Larissa Llowarch, said it was great to be part of the luncheon and hear from inspiring speakers on creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world."

“There is still some way to go when we look at the 7% gap between female-only and male-only investment property owners across Australia. However, it is impressive to see that there is no gender discrepancy among Key2 Realty’s landlords.”

“It was interesting to learn from the CoreLogic report that women are more likely to invest in property where they have the resources to do so, however a lower income is the key factor preventing this.”

CoreLogic report released

CoreLogic’s 2023 Women & Property report released ahead of International Women’s Day, found men were associated with ownership of 3.1% more of the housing stock analysed than women. Female-only ownership of dwellings was 26.8%, while male-inferred ownership was 29.9%. Property owned jointly between males and females was 43.4%.

CoreLogic Head of Australian Research and report author Eliza Owen said while it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why the disparity in dwelling ownership prevails, there were some interesting differences between genders across property and ownership types and regions.

Ms Owen said investment property remains at the centre of gender disparity, with Aussie men owning seven percentage points more of the investment properties analysed than women.

“Most of the discrepancy between male and female ownership of property could be explained by ownership of investments,” said Ms Owen.

“Male-only names were associated with 36.3% of investment properties, which is higher than both the share of investment properties owned by women (29.5%), and the share owned by men and women jointly (34.2%).

“There were some hot spots where women did actually own more of the investment stock analysed than men. These were generally the areas that women had high ownership of dwellings overall, including the North Sydney and Hornsby SA4 region, where women had ownership of almost 39% of investment properties analysed.”

What women own, and where they own it

Men were found to own 4.3% more house stock in Australia, while women trumped men in the medium to high density sector by 1.1%.

Ms Owen cautioned this has implications for the gender wealth gap as detached houses have been associated with higher longer-term capital gains over time.

“Detached houses, and higher-value property more broadly, has been associated with higher longer-term value growth so women may be missing out on a chunk of capital gains from the Australian housing market because of the type of properties they are purchasing,” said Ms Owen.

“Stand-alone homes have achieved an annual growth rate of 5.1% per year over 10 years to January 2023, compared to 3.4% in the unit market. However, women also tended to own more properties in markets that have a relatively high price point, so those women who are able to access the property market may have done well in terms of long-term capital growth.”

The top five regions for female-only inferred ownership were Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs (37.3%), North Sydney and Hornsby region (36.6%), City and Inner South (36.1%), and Ryde (34.7%), and Melbourne’s Inner region (34.0%).

Ms Owen said income could be an important factor, with some of the wealthiest, inner-city regions of Sydney seeing a higher portion of property owned by women.

“An important factor playing into whether women own a home or not, is income. Research suggests that women are more inclined to invest in real estate than their male counterparts where they have the resources to do so,” she said.

Supporting women facing homelessness

Key2 Realty’s parent company and registered charity, Pacific Link Housing has a strong focus on supporting older women, the fastest-growing demographic of people experiencing homelessness.

Key2 Realty Business Manager, Larissa Llowarch, said it’s heartening to see the impact a safe, secure tenancy can have for women who find themselves without a home for various reasons.

“Many single women are experiencing housing stress due to circumstances such as unexpected relationship breakdowns or medical issues that impact their ability to afford a rental in the private market.”

Pacific Link Housing provides support to women through initiatives such as:

Adira Apartments - A 12-unit development at Woy Woy completed in 2021 specifically targeted to provide women with various options across the housing continuum, including social housing, affordable housing and market-rate rentals.
Allawah House - The first ‘meanwhile use’ project providing temporary housing for women at risk of homelessness on the Central Coast.
Hand into Home Project - A partnership with AHOW (Action on Housing Older Women) to provide brokerage funds to older women who need support to secure safe, affordable housing.