Why single parents have more wealth and female home ownership in the UK

Jana Hlistova

Jan 28, 2024

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Welcome to our #221 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight homeownership (US) of single parents and the impact on their net worth, compared to single non-parents. And we highlight homeownership data for women in the UK.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with David Hayman, Campaign Director for Make My Money Matter. We talk about investing with your values and how to make your pension green!

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And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Why single parents have more wealth and female home ownership in the UK

According to a survey from the Federal Reserve (US), single parents are richer, or have a higher net worth, than single non-parents, as reported by Axiom.

This is despite single non-parents earning more than their counterparts with children (from 2013-2022). It makes sense that parents seek certainty when they have children, and buying a home enables this stability.

Whilst single parents homeownership remained steady at 50% from 2007, single non-parents fell to 29%.

In 2022, the median single parent was worth $50,750 (almost three times the $18,023 of nine years previously), in contrast to the single non-parent with assets valued at no more than $20,900.

As the value of assets have gone up during this period, single parent homeowners have in turn become more wealthy.

With more social pressure on parents to own, they acquire an asset which goes up over time.

Having said that, single non-parents who do not own a home, can grow their net worth by investing in other asset classes like equity or even crypto like Bitcoin.

The question is, why don’t they?

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In the UK, only 33% of all mortgaged owner occupiers are women (data to 2020).

By contrast, the majority of social renters are women (58%) while private rentals to women come in at 40%, as per Saville’s data.

And the number of female mortgaged owner occupiers has barely changed, rising just 2.7% since 2011 (to 2020).

According to new research by property technology company iPlace Global, it takes a London woman 5.3 years longer than her male counterparts to buy a property in the capital.

Even before they’ve had children, the average woman’s income is 16% less than that of a man and she saves 35% less on average.

But homeownership has changed for middle-aged and older women. This may in part be a result of divorce or inheritance.

And the data shows that retired women tend to be more property rich, with 3.3m women over 70 owning their homes outright – approximately 40% of all outright ownership in the UK.

As per the FT Advisor: as women get married later on in life, are in senior roles with an increasing salary over time, this might lead to a sharper spike in mortgaged and outright female ownership in the years to come.

Financial news

Nasdaq Golden Dragon index jumps almost 5% on China PM Li Qiang’s order to calm markets and a fresh stabilisation fund. But China’s boldest plan yet to stem current stock market rout is facing a wall of skepticism
India’s stock market has overtaken Hong Kong’s for the first time in another feat for the South Asian nation whose growth prospects and policy reforms have made it an investor darling.
Tuesday: the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 closed at fresh ATH, but the Nasdaq 100 has consistently outperformanced the S&P 500 over the last 20yrs.
The S&P 500 surpassed 4,867: the average level where forecasters in a Bloomberg survey pegged it 11 months from now. Ed Yardeni is getting nervous about the speed of S&P 500’s rally.
Borrowing from the Fed's emergency lending programme rose to a fresh record, just before Fed raised the facility’s interest rate to stop financial institutions from taking advantage and arbitraging on its attractive terms. Demand for Bank Term Funding Program rose $6.3bn to an ATH of $167.8bn.
US 4Q GDP grew 3.3%; above all estimates, following the 4.9% Q3 clip.
Europe is building its own Magnificent Seven. Rally in megacaps SAP, ASML, Siemens, TotalEnergies and LVMH boosts Euro Stoxx 50 to highest since 2001. Diversification by sector and geography seen as tailwinds.
Eurozone M3 money supply growth turned positive at the end of the year. M3 Money Supply rises 0.1% YoY in December, the first rise since June of last year. Analysts expected a 0.7% fall.
ECB's Lagarde says rate cut debate is premature. Says she stands by her comments on ECB rate-cut timing summer. Markets price 1st cut for June.
Jeremy Hunt has room for £20bn tax cuts after borrowing halves year on year. December deficit is less than expected at £14bn – the lowest for the month since 2019.
Tesla shares plunged 12% in worst trading day since 2020 after automaker warns of slowdown.
There are now seven companies in the Trillion Dollar Club again. Meta has passed the $1tn mark, and Microsoft is now worth $3tn for the first time ever.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

Monday: Bitcoin fell below $40,000 for first time since early December as enthusiasm over launch of ETFs that directly invest in largest cryptocurrency ebbs. Bitcoin price has since bounced back above $42,000, causing spike in short liquidations.
Ethereum (ETH) was a big loser, dropping to $2,186 on Tuesday and never really recovering, logging an 8% loss over the week. It’s now trading for $2,264.
ETH’s drop came following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to delay ETH ETF proposals from both BlackRock and Grayscale.
Solana (SOL) took a beating. It was, at the start of the week, one of the worst-performing cryptocurrencies. It has since picked up and is trading for $92.60, a more than 1% seven-day rise.
Dogecoin (DOGE)—the original meme coin and 11th biggest cryptocurrency—pumped at the start of the week over speculation that it might be used for payments on Twitter, it slowly drifted back to where it started.
Bitcoin's price gains push BlackRock's ETF above $2bn in assets under management.