Single women homebuyers will help drive the luxury real estate market in 2025, according to an outlook report by Sotheby’s International Realty released Thursday.
“Women are coming into their own as independent homebuyers,” Sotheby’s said in a statement accompanying its report, with women’s presence in the high-end housing market “set to increase.”
By 2030, women are expected to be in charge of $34 trillion, or about 38% of all investable assets in the U.S., the luxury real estate agent said. At the same time, an impending intergenerational wealth transfer “will contribute to women controlling more wealth than ever before,” Sotheby’s cited from a March 2024 Bank of America Institute (BAC+2.05%) report.
The share of single women homeowners rose to 20% in 2024, while single men made up just 8% of homeowners, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
“They are financially savvy and know what they want,” said Marsha Burke, global real estate advisor of Scenic Sotheby’s International Realty on Florida’s Emerald Coast. “Financial autonomy is the overarching theme that has propelled the number of women purchasing their own homes.”
Until 1974, creditors in the U.S. could deny single women loans, or require a man to co-sign, based on their marital status.
When it comes to luxury real estate, younger generations are also helping propel activity. Sotheby’s noted that, on a global scale, brokers are seeing millennials opt for luxe, social media-ready properties.
Kelly Ladwig, global real estate advisor at Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty in Nashville, said millennials she works with “have definitely been influenced by television shows and social media.”
“Instagram (META+0.78%) has brought so many ideas and home features to so many people’s attention,” Ladwig said.
Within the U.S., millennials made up the largest share of homebuyers last year, comprising 38% of the market, NAR found. Although they were slow to enter the housing market, in recent years activity from the group has picked up as they age into homeownership.
In the 2025 Sotheby’s International Realty agent survey, people born between 1981 and 1996 were identified as the second fastest-growing group of homebuyers by almost one-third of responding brokers.
This year could also see a pronounced movement of wealthy individuals looking to lay roots in new countries. According to a Henley and Partners report cited by Sotheby’s, 135,000 high-net-worth individuals are expected to move internationally in 2025, up from 128,000 in 2024.
The U.S. saw the second-highest inflow of rich homebuyers in 2024 (behind the United Arab Emirates), but experienced the lowest level of international buyer purchases since 2009, Sotheby’s found.
Between April 2023 and March 2024, international buyers bought 54,300 homes worth a total of $42 billion, down from 284,500 units totaling $153 billion in 2017.
“Amidst an environment of high interest rates, global elections, and fluctuating economic markers in 2024, the luxury housing market is showing impressive adaptability to face the year ahead,” said Philip White, president and CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty, in a statement.
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