Single women millennials increasing in homeownership

More single, female millennials are becoming homeowners.

However, male home loan applicants were approved for more financing. According to Ellie Mae’s Millennial Tracker, millennial men who were listed as the primary borrower were approved for an average of $197,820 in October, while millennial women were approved for an average loan amount of $186,567. Yet, women closed their loans faster, an average of 42 days, while it took men an average of 43 days. However, women applied with lower FICO scores.

The average FICO score for a female homebuyer was 721, while the average FICO score for a male homebuyer was 726.

“While men make up the larger percentage of overall millennial borrowers, most of them are married,” said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy at Ellie Mae. “An interesting trend we’ve been tracking all year is that single women are buying homes much more than single men. Sixty percent of women who were listed as the primary borrower in October were single, compared to 42 percent of men.”

Realtor.com^® found that millennials are taking out more mortgages across price tiers, but have been purchasing the most starter homes, which are classified as homes costing under $200,000. The share of millennials who have taken out loans for homebuying hit 39.8 percent in October, an increase of 11.2 percent in four years. The average down payment for a millennial was 9.1 percent, comparable to other generations, realtor.com found.

“When you consider where [millennials] are in the homeownership cycle, it’s reassuring that their down payments have been constant,” said realtor.com’s^® chief economist Danielle Hale.