Millenial women lead in online search for properties

Women are increasingly playing an active role in realty decisions, leading to online searches for renting properties, according to a study by Housing.com and Makaan.com.

While men have a marginal lead in buying decisions, the involvement of women between the age group of 18 and 34 (millennials) is growing rapidly in property-related decisions, the study suggests.

Rising financial independence has been attributed as the reason behind the surge in women participation in the search for properties online.

The two portals, which are part of News Corp-backed Elara Technologies, have collected and processed data from user activity on their platforms to study the behavioural differences between men and women while searching for properties online for buying and renting.

While Makaan largely deals in buy-sell of resale properties, Housing.com is a classified platform for both developers and brokers.

The study suggests a significant increase in the number of women users who are actively researching for a property online.

"In 2016, women users accounted for 51% of the sessions online, while men accounted for 49%. So far in 2018, women account for 54% of online sessions across the two platforms, and the share of men in this regard has dwindled to 46%," the report says.

In case of the search for buying property, the share of women audience is continuously increasing and the share of sessions initiated by women on the two sites has jumped to 46% in 2018, up from 40% in 2016.

"We are witnessing the emergence of women as key decision-makers in the property renting and buying process. With rising financial independence, women are increasingly making property-related decisions both for independent dwelling options as well as for family homes," said Ravi Bhushan, Chief Product Technology Officer of Housing.com, Makaan.com, and Proptiger.com.

A closer look at decision-making patterns indicates that millennial women are most active and involved in realty decisions, showcasing the typical traits of a discerning and independent millennial audience, he added.

The study further reveals that women are not just short-listing and selecting a rental home, but they are getting increasingly involved in closing transactions.

As per the data, women are more likely to share their contact information with brokers and landlords for a rental property, contributing 54% of the total leads for rental properties.

However, men are slightly ahead on this count, with 51% of buy leads on the sites coming from men. Men do account for more inquiry to sales conversions than women but note that there is only a slight gap, and we will increasingly see more women moving closer to the transaction and be involved in buying homes as well, the study added.

The study is based on an average of 15 million monthly users of both the portals (combined).