Single women are increasingly buying homes, and Chicago is the third-best city in the U.S. for them to buy, according to a new study by Compass and mortgage lender Better.com.
Nationwide, one in five homebuyers are single women, and even women who aren’t single are securing loans without their spouses or listing themselves as the primary source of income, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing the study.
In numerical order, the top 10 U.S. cities for single women to buy property, as determined by the study are Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., San Diego, Houston and Oakland.
The study surveyed Compass agents and analyzed Better.com mortgage data, determining the top cities for single women to buy property were by the percentage of women applying for loans through the website.
More than half of the agents surveyed said the majority of their clients were women, and more than three-fourths of them said they’ve seen that number increase within the last five years.
The study also determined that single women of color are taking out mortgages more frequently than a year ago and single women are entering the housing market earlier than their male counterparts.
In Chicago, single women own approximately 313,000 homes, compared to about 100,000 homes owned by single men, according to a separate study by Lendingtree.com.
[Tribune] — Brianna Kelly