Illustration by VCG
A survey that reveals the growing role of women as homebuyers, particularly single women in major cities in China, has aroused heated online discussions over women's sense of security, independence and freedom.
According to Ke.com, China's largest property listing website, 47.9 percent of the buyers in 67, 724 transactions that happened on its platform in 2018 were female, significantly higher than the 30 percent in 2014.
The survey also found that 74.2 percent of the women polled said they bought a home without financial support from their partners, while 45.2 percent did so with financial support from their parents, and 29 percent were able to purchase solely by themselves.
The poll included 964 homebuyers in 12 major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Changsha.
The hashtag #Upsurge in women homebuyers in big cities# quickly trended Sunday on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, and received tens of thousands of comments from netizens. The hashtag has so far been read over 300 million times.
Some commenters agree with the trend, with one saying: "A number of women have started to consider buying a house since college. The world has changed. They know they can't count on men anymore."
Some discussed the reasons behind this and others listed the benefits of such actions.
The most liked comment, which reaped over 70,000 likes, said: "Women get a deeper sense of security from owning savings and a house than relying on a partner."
Another highly liked comment states: "It just feels so good to find your house look the same as you left it in the morning when you open the door after returning home from work at night. It is yourself who can give you a real sense of security."
One even says, "Finally, you can tell your partner to get out of your house when a quarrel breaks out."
Property developers may also find some constructive advice from the comments, such as, "Real estate developers should build more small apartments to cater to the needs of women homebuyers. Small apartments with two bedrooms are just suitable for single women buyers, enough to satisfy their housing needs without being too expensive to afford."
