The third edition of the CoreLogic Women and Property report provides an update to the state of home ownership for men and women across Australia and New Zealand as of January 2023.

This snapshot follows a stark shift in housing market conditions compared with the end of 2022. As central banks around the world started aggressively targeting inflation, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted the underlying cash rate target 300 basis points in 2022, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) rose 350 basis points. This has led to a decline in home values and sales volumes, amid rising interest costs and reduced borrowing capacity. Despite a sharp fall in home values over the past 12 months, the snapshot of home ownership remains fairly consistent on what was observed in the previous edition of this report. In Australia, female ownership was inferred for at least part ownership of 70.1% of homes analysed, which is unchanged from the analysis in 2022. However, there was a marginal decline in joint male-female home ownership, and a slightly higher level of female-only owned property. There was quite a different dynamic in New Zealand, where the rate of property ownership associated with female names only, and male names only declined, as joint home ownership increased. Female-only ownership of property inferred across New Zealand was 22.0%, lower than the 23.5% reported in the previous year.

Author:

CoreLogic