A 31-year-old woman has been sharing her struggle to get on the property ladder saying she gets looked past for not being a man.
Sydneysider Brittany Ferdinands also said she needs to work two jobs and split her time staying at her parents and boyfriend’s to save rent to have a chance of competing against older wealthier investors.
Ms Ferdinands has been trying to buy a one-bedroom apartment for between $600,000 and $850,000 in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for about a month and has been sharing her journey on social media.
She said property is very much a ‘man’s world’.
‘When I go to inspect a property, I do feel like most of the time my boyfriend gets the most attention’,’ she told Yahoo.
‘They are talking to him and it’s like ‘I’m buying it, it’s not him, he’s just here for the support.’
She said that shopping for a unit means ‘talking to men all day, every day’ with the callers from the agencies and the mortgage brokers all being male.
Ms Ferdinands said it is not just her gender that puts her at a disadvantage, but also her age when she is competing against older, and much wealthier, investors.
‘I’m not really seeing anyone my age Most seem to be an older demographic,’ she said.
‘They definitely have more cash than me.’
She has heard older buyers tell real estate agents they were looking for another investment property.
That puts her at a disadvantage because she viewed properties emotionally, swayed by whether she loved the place and wanted to live there.
Meanwhile the investors are ‘quite transactional’ and have the cash to splash around.
Without working two jobs, Ms Ferdinands said buying a property in the area of Sydney she is looking at would be close to unattainable.
She works as commercial operator for four days a week as well as being employed as a university tutor teaching media and marketing.
She even has another side hustle doing content creation,
Ms Ferdinands said if she only had her four-day salary she could ‘forget’ about buying an apartment but luckily is able to save her entire tutor’s wage towards a deposit.
‘Everyone I know who has bought a house recently has had two jobs,’ she said.
She also admitted being fortunate in not having to pay rent, as she splits her time between her parents and her boyfriend’s, again putting away what she otherwise would have to pay to a landlord.
Ms Ferdinands said many woman her age lacked financial literacy and asked their fathers or partners to help them.
For those wanting to get their finances in order to buy a home she recommended a good place to start was a mortgage broker, who would help with getting documentation in order.
By doing that and going through her finances with a ‘fine tooth comb’ Ms Ferdinands said it had completely change the way she was spending and saving money.
A study from financial watchdog the n Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)earlier this year found Gen Z women exhibited higher levels of stress and concern over their financial situations than Gen Z men.
The study by ASIC’s Moneysmart unit found that 87 per cent of Gen Z women reported severe financial stress over the cost of living, compared to 77 per cent of Gen Z men
Over half of Gen Z women (57 per cent) felt overwhelmed by their finances compared to 41 men in the same age group.