Give women cheaper home loans
In India, single women buying their own homes benefit from cheaper homeloans, lower stamp duties and bigger tax rebates than single men.
In SA, single women have none of these advantages, but they are making far more effort to provide financial security for themselves and their children than single men, and could really do with some form of help or incentive from the banks or government.
This is according to Richard Gray, CEO of Harcourts Real Estate, who says here it is very difficult for anyone single to obtain approval for a homeloan, let alone a lower interest rate, and there are no annual tax rebates for residential homeowners.
“Nevertheless, the latest statistics available, from a survey conducted by credit bureau Compuscan, show that of the mortgages that were granted to single people last year, 54 per cent of those granted for less than R1-m went to single women, who also accounted for 57 per cent of new bonds in the R1-m to R3-m bracket.”
He says that South African women are in step with their counterparts in many more developed countries, where single women are about twice as likely now to be homeowners as single men.
“Women all over the world are proving to be better at managing their credit than men are.
“In Australia, for example, 48 per cent of households headed by single women have settled their mortgages, compared to 31 per cent of households headed by single men.”
He adds that in a recent survey conducted, in South Africa, by the Credit Bureau Association (CBA) showed clearly that women were less of a credit risk than men, in that although they make up the majority of credit active consumers, they have fewer credit accounts than men and fewer impaired or adverse records.
“And with that in mind, as well as the fact that more young women than young men are getting good school results and degrees and putting themselves on track to earn well, we think SA banks and the government would do well to take a leaf out of India’s book and encourage home buying by single women, and especially those who have children or elderly parents in their care.
“This would be a really meaningful way to demonstrate their commitment to improving life for women in SA.”
