Realty buys by women professionals rise

Real estate purchases, especially homes, by women professionals rose sharply in 2018 in the top tier cities of China and reshaped the sales strategies of some developers, a new industry report said.

It has long been a social norm in China that ahead of a marriage, it is the male spouse who is responsible for apartment purchases, or at least for the down payment. But data from Ke.com, an online housing agency and subsidiary of real estate agency giant Lianjia, shows that such traditions are changing in the big cities as more financially independent single women have started investing in properties.

According to the report, in 2018, 46.7 percent of the property buyers in 12 first and second-tier cities were women. And as ages increase, awareness toward buying property grows as well. The report said in the 30-year-old category, 47.1 percent of single women purchased their own properties, with over a third doing so without mortgages, and 23.4 percent of them owning more than one property.