Jodie Haigh grew up in public housing and rental properties, where she said the impending end to a lease was always hanging over her.
So when she and her husband moved back from a seven-year stint overseas, she knew purchasing a home was a priority for her.
Ms Haigh, who is 38 with a science background, and her husband looked around Canberra before settling in Queanbeyan with their young children in June.
She said buying house had a profound impact on her health.
"The personal impact is quite apparent. There is a sense of relief in a [house] being mine. I can put a picture up, I can paint it, I can do the garden the way I want it. I'm not being kicked out.
"It is not just excitement. There is a level of calm stability knowing it is not just two months left on a rental contract," she said.
Property 'extremely important' to women
Ms Haigh is part of a growing cohort of women who see property ownership as "extremely important" for their future.
Almost half of Australian women placed themselves in this category, compared with 37 per cent of men, according to CoreLogic's women and property annual report 2024.
But Ms Haigh said the road to property ownership had been challenging.
She and her husband used an inheritance to help.
The CoreLogic data shows 57 per cent of women who have not bought a property do not have the means. That figure was smaller for men, at 42 per cent. CoreLogic's head of research, Eliza Owen, said this may be because women were more likely to enter low-paying jobs and therefore take longer to save for a deposit.
Women were also attending university at higher rates than men, so were more likely to be in a lower income bracket for longer, she said.
A generational breakdown proved even greater discrepancies: just 27 per cent of women aged 18 to 29 own a property, according to the data, compared with 52 per cent of men.
"The most common kind of tenure for women of that age is living with friends or family," Ms Owen said.
Women then surpassed men by 9 percentage points in that 30 to 44 age group.
'I had to Google everything'
Once Ms Haigh and her husband were ready to buy, she said the process was challenging.
Her parents had never owned property and her in laws are no longer alive, so she felt she had no one to ask questions about the process.
"There were a lot of questions I had. I had to Google everything and read Reddit and try to get as much information as I could," she said.
Owner of Capital Buyers Agency Claire Corby said many women she worked with found it hard to buy , and were concerned they would make a wrong step.
"Sometimes we hold back for fear of making a wrong decision," she said.
"Women seek advice and want to feel supported in their purchase."
Ms Corby said she had experienced an increase in Gen Z and Millennial female clients wanting to buy their first property, particularly on their own.
"There are a lot of women in their 20s especially who are thinking it is time for them to think about their own financial future and what they can do to make a smart move now," she said.
Mr Corby said it was important to help find the right home that fit within a budget, but that also provided security and safety to the buyer.
But that can be complex, especially if someone was buying on their own.
Making good financial decisions
When Bondi-based Molly Benjamin started the Ladies Finance Club in 2019, she wanted younger women to feel empowered to invest in property and make good financial decisions.
She and her team talk through specific government schemes to help women buy homes, invest and save.
"We have a mortgage broker who talks about government schemes and specialises in whatever [jurisdiction] we are in and what schemes they have available," she said.
Ms Benjamin is a fan of rentvesting, which means buying an investment property in a cheaper area and renting a place in your desired location.
The Ladies Finance Club Roadshow will be in Canberra on the evening of October 24.
