More Single Women Decide To Own Homes

First-time homeowner Christina Davis, 23, said it did not make sense anymore to pay rent.

"The price of rent was pretty much the same as paying mortgage," Davis said.

Davis is in good company. According to the North Carolina Association of Realtors, 21 percent of home buyers in North Carolina are single women versus 8.5 percent of single men in the state.

The numbers are similar on a national scale. Single women account for 18 percent of homebuyers while single men make up eight percent. Real estate agent Marion Gatling said she has seen the trend firsthand.

"I've probably sold 250 homes in six years, and out of that maybe 20 have been to single men," she said.

Gatling said one reason more single women may be buying is lending programs that make it easier.

"With some of the new programs that have been available to homebuyers, first-time homebuyers with very little money down, it has made it very easy for a single woman or a single parent to be able to purchase a home," she said.

For many women, it is also about a sense of empowerment. Davis and two of her single-female friends bought homes within a month of each other.

"It is a very big sense of empowerment, that you can do it on your own," Davis said. "None of us asked our parents for help. We just all decided this is what I want to do."

From 1994 to 2002, the number of single women owning homes nationally climbed from nearly 14 million to 17.5 million.