Love, Marriage & Homeownership

In honor of Valentine’s Day, let’s look at how romantic attachments influence home buying. We found some interesting facts when we looked at the statistics for the married vs. single populations of U.S. cities.

Single Homebuyer Trends

The U.S. demographics have changed, and for the first time more households are unmarried. Fifty-one percent of households are headed by an unmarried person. With more single people, we wanted to know if more single people are buying homes. According to the Wall Street Journal, men are buying homes at approximately the same rate as the 1980s; about 10 percent of homebuyers are single men. Single women, however, are buying more homes. In the 1980s single men and women bought homes at similar rates, but in the 2000s approximately 20 percent of homebuyers are single women, compared to single men representing 10 percent of homebuyers.

Married People are Homeowners

The cities with a high percentage of married people have a high percentage of homeowners. In cities with more than 30 percent married, we find that, on average, 50 percent of homes are occupied by homeowners. In comparison, cities with larger single populations, less than 30 percent married, only 39 percent of homes are occupied by homeowners.

So, married people are more likely to buy homes – this is hardly surprising. There is a reason they refer to getting married as settling down. When saving up for a down payment, it’s also easier to buy a home with dual income. The pros of renting – greater mobility, low maintenance costs and less responsibility – appeal to the single population.

While the percentage of the population that is married is correlated with homeownership, the prices of homes for sale in the city are not. Comparing median home listing prices and percentage of homeownership, we found little relationship between these figures.