Opinion

What do women really want to get from purchasing their own homes?

More and more women are entering the prosperous property market in China, and they have become a growing proportion of the market.
 
According to the survey report on The Current Situation of Women’s Residence (2021), by 2020, the proportion of apartment purchases by women in 30 main cities across China had increased to 47.54%, going up all the way. Among them, female buyers under the age of 24 accounted for 45.21% and those aged between 25 and 29 accounted for 48.99%. These two age groups have become the main contributing forces in the real estate market.
 
According to the 2021 Women’s Property Purchase Report released by 58.com and Anjuke, 82% of women plan to buy property within the next five years, with 38.7% of them planning to buy property within 1-2 years.
 
As times change, more and more women are aiming to buy their own homes, and their attitude has become more and more determined: must buy, buy early, and can afford to buy.
So, why are more women buying homes?
 
The apartment we rent is just a place, but the property we buy is called home.
 
Some women believe that buying an apartment will give them a place of their own and give them a sense of belonging.
 
After graduation, we start to work, and our income is not much in the beginning, so renting an apartment is our only choice. People who enjoy life can modify the rental place into a nice suite, but some decorations such as nailing things on the wall, adding wallpaper, or changing electrical appliances, are only allowed after asking the landlord. When buying furniture, we consider whether we will move out soon, so we often end up buying cheap or simple pieces to make do with. When the contract is up, we worry about the landlord raising the price, so we either have to move several times, or live in the same place and endure the increasing rents. We always feel that we are drifting, not belonging anywhere.
 
After buying our own apartments, we can paint the walls the colour we like, decorate it as we want, and purchase furniture and electrical appliances as we wish. Going home after a long day’s work, cooking a few dishes in the open kitchen we designed, lying on the comfortable couch watching TV after dinner, then enjoying a hot shower in a clean bathroom, and sleeping with a silk duvet on a big queen-sized bed – this is the life we want, and we feel that we are finally “home”.
 
I can buy my own place, you can offer your true love
 
There are also women who believe that buying their own apartment gives them confidence in choosing their relationships and marriages.
Previously, many older generations believed that women could only achieve a class leap by marrying a good husband.  He could buy luxury cars and houses, or at least buy an apartment together after marriage, so the woman could live an easier life without making herself so miserable.
 
However, these old ways of thinking have brought some consequences to many women. Some women do not want to live with their in-laws, but they have no right to say anything, only having to suffer in silence because the house is not under their name. Enduring domestic violence, some women are afraid to leave home or file for divorce, because they have nowhere to go.
 
Although owning an apartment or a house of their own is not enough to give women absolute freedom of choice in their relationships and marriage, it can give them the confidence to “not be attached” and the ability to come and go freely.
 
With my own place, I can live a good single life
 
There is a saying online: men buy a house to get married, while women buy a house to be able to not get married. Some women believe that without meeting the right partner to share a life with forever, it is enough to have a pet, a place called home and myself.
 
Nowadays, women are becoming more and more independent. The so-called female independence no longer refers to social behavior such as going to the movies, eating or going out alone. Women are more and more able to make choices and decisions in life and work independently. Women no longer need to rely on their partners or marriage for the security they crave, but on themselves.
 
Buying an apartment has become an important step on the road to independence for women. Adult independence includes financial independence and intellectual independence. Independence is the beginning of being in control of your life, and buying an apartment pushes forward on both sides.
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For Chinese, owning a place called home is about building up a sense of security. And holding this sense of security in our own hands can be the most assuring thing.
 
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