Gender divide widens as men show greater affinity for property investing: RateCity survey

Property investing is set to become more male-dominated over the coming years, according to a new survey by mortgage comparison website RateCity.com.au.

It found that of those people who plan to invest over the next 12 months, 63% are men compared with 37% who are women.

Two years ago, the results were a lot closer with 58% prospective investors being men compared with 42% being women.

The results are compiled from RateCity database and the Nielsen CMV National Online Survey comprising responses from 69,592 Australians in 2013 and 32,924 in 2011.

Property investing is also growing  more appealing for younger Australians with the survey finding that those aged between 25 and 34 are the biggest age group intending to invest in property in the next 12 months.

This has changed from the end of 2011 when the biggest age group planning to invest in property was 35-44.

Overall, there was a slight increase of Australians planning to invest in property, with about 3% of the 69,592 people surveyed by Nielson planning to do so over the next 12 months - this excludes people who already own property.

Out of these people, 56% agree that it’s a good time to invest more, which shows that investors are more positive about the property investment market.

“It’s easy to see why property investment is an attractive option for many young Australians because of their risk profile,” says Alex Parsons, CEO of RateCity.

“They have more time to invest in property as property investment is generally a long-term strategy. It’s probably the first time for many young people to invest and property is a lower risk investment than other investment types.”