Single women over the age of 55 have been the fastest-growing homebuying demographic for the past 38 years, and in 2017, this group made up 8.2 percent of all homebuyers, double the share in 1998.
Women 55 years and older who are single also buy homes almost twice as much as single males in that same age range. Jessica Lautz, director of demographics and behavioral insight for the National Association of Realtors, says that longer average lifespans and career-spans give these buyers confidence to take on a 15- or 30-year mortgage, and that women in this life stage want to own a room of their own, so to speak. Buyer Leah Hoffman explains the significant emotional investment in her new home, telling Realtor.com, “There are no bad memories in this house, and I’m going to try hard not to create any."
Leah Hoffman was looking for a house to start the next phase of her life. She doesn’t need a lot of space, and being single, she only needs to please herself. She says she found exactly what she was looking for in a $1.7 million home in Paradise Valley, Ariz., which she moved into in January. The life phase Ms. Hoffman is starting? She is 60 and divorced, with grown children. She sold a wealth-management firm she founded in 2007 and is now ready for something new. “I’m totally starting from scratch,” she says. “I like change.”
