Key takeaways
Overall, there is strong parity in ownership between men and women with 64.4% of men and 62.7% of women owning at least one residential dwelling.
However, women are under-represented in investment property, and many other assets, reiterating a ‘gender investment gap’.
A generational divide was also clear, with less than half of Generation Z ranking property ownership as highly important (48.0%), compared to 76.4% of baby boomers, millennials (61.9%) and Gen X (65.1%).
According to CoreLogic’s 2025 Women & Property report, Australia has a ‘gender investment gap’, where Australian women are underrepresented when it comes to investment properties and other investment types.
The report, released in the lead-up to International Women’s Day, surveyed home ownership status, and motivations, barriers and attitudes towards dwelling ownership among women and men in Australia, and revealed that residential property investment was higher among males (14.2%) than females (11.4%).
The highest discrepancy of ownership between males and females was for cryptocurrencies, where 24.1% of males reported owning cryptocurrency, compared to 8.0% of females.
Shares and superannuation also had a substantial ownership gap between men and women – 34.7% vs 19.1% and 44.8% and 56.3% respectively.
The findings were consistent with previous data, showcasing the ‘gender investment gap’.
The presence of a ‘gender investment gap’ for women is an established concept, and various studies identified factors such as having less income, more risk aversion, being less comfortable with maths or lower rates of financial literacy as contributors.
A significantly higher portion of women reported not having any investments (40.0%) compared to 27.8% of men.
Despite the challenges on investment properties, overall there is strong parity in ownership between men and women – with the report finding that 64.4% of men and 62.7% of women own at least one residential dwelling, whether as a home or investment.
That’s likely because of affordability drivers, leading to the formation of dual-income households as Australians become older and attain ownership of a family home.
For those that do not own a home or investment property, they potentially miss out on strong value gains that typically outpace growth in incomes.
Generational divides present across genders
Breaking down the data by age, the greatest discrepancy in ownership of investment property was among Gen Z respondents – the generation born between 1997 and 2012.
Based on the survey results, 13.8% of young men had at least one investment property compared to 6.4% of young women.
The smallest discrepancy was among Baby Boomers, where roughly 10.0% of men and 11.3% of women-owned at least one residential investment property.
Beyond ownership, a generational divide was also clear when it comes to attitudes toward ownership, with less than half of Generation Z ranking property ownership as highly important (48.0%), compared to 76.4% of Baby Boomers.
However, there were fewer females in Gen Z that ranked property ownership with low importance (13.9%) relative to young men (19.5%).
Younger men and women found affordability to be a greater challenge than older generations, with more than half of women (53.6%) in Gen Z and more than half of millennials (53.8%) pointing to price as a challenge when going through the home buying process, which is significantly higher than the 16.8% of female baby boomers.
It’s unsurprising to learn that younger generations identified affordability as more of a challenge in accessing the housing market.
Affordability pressures have only become worse in the housing market over time, and younger people are generally on lower incomes because they have not had as much time in the workforce.
Affordability trumps all
As is the case with many Australians affordability was a key barrier facing women – particularly younger women.
While the report points to a promising parity between males and females of dwelling ownership in Australia, there were discrepancies and more work to be done to empower women with respect to dwelling ownership and investment.
Part of the challenge for women who aspire to own a home is the persistence of the gender pay gap.
While the pay gap has been declining over time in Australia, this survey still finds a greater portion of women than men report challenges in accessing the housing market related to saving a deposit, high prices, and being approved for a loan due to financial conditions.
