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Married couples have long been the predominant demographic of homeownership. But as marriage rates have fallen — dropping 7% since the 1990s — and mortgage rates have risen, so has couples' share of the real estate market. That has given rise to a growing demographic of other homeowners: single women.
According to the National Association of Realtors®, couples made up 73% of homeowners in 1981. That rate had fallen to 60% by 2021. Meanwhile, single female homeowners have grown from 11% to 19% in that same time frame, with single men lagging at just 9% in 2021.
This decades-long trend in female home ownership emerged in the early 1980s shortly after fair housing and equal opportunity laws removed key barriers to women accessing credit and owning homes by themselves. It also reflects changing attitudes on marriage, family and autonomy.
