More single Chinese women tend to buy homes before marriage

(ECNS) -- A survey conducted by China Youth Daily shows that among 2,006respondents, 84.2 percent said more and more single women are buying houses before marriage with 93.9 percent in full support.

Pan Yunkang, former chief expert of Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, said the increase of female home buyers reflects the changes in people's concept of marriage and lifestyle. “

 “Men are usually the providers in marriage in a typical Chinese marriage,” said Pan. “The proportion of female home buyers has increased, whether financially supported by parents or not, which indicates the mode of financial dependence on men is being broken.”

For Liu Yuning, 27, owning a house is an advantage  that will help improve her marriage prospects.

"If a woman is beautiful, talented and has a house, she will have  better options regarding a husband, which is natural,” said Liu. 

A total of 66.3 percent of respondents believe that buying homes on their own could encourage women to work harder, while 62.3 percent said this could improve their financial management,  income and expenditure capabilities.

An Yue, a 29-year-old high school teacher, has been single and bought an apartment in her fourth year of work. She believes that with a home, she can have more autonomy and confidence.

“A husband and wife will get along more equally and live more comfortably if the wife has her own house,” said An.

“I will make more plans on my expenditure because of the house. My parents helped me with the down payment. I am grateful and will work harder to lessen their burden,” she added.

Men have more advantages than women if they own houses in a marriage, said Zhou Xiaopeng, a psychological counselor, “because the expectations of society for women are more than their wealth.”

“Men generally pay more attention to women's personality and occupation so that owning a house does not necessarily increase women’s attraction. Therefore, women should buy houses based on their own needs, not for finding husbands,” he said.

Zhou pointed out that a stable family is based on wealth. If both the husband and wife have no financial problems, they will pay more attention to improve the quality of their marriage and life.

"Women who become full-time mothers after giving birth may face marriage risks, financial risks, re-employment risks, and inadequate sense of accomplishment, said Zhou.”

“If the wife has her own fixed assets before marriage, she will have less anxiety and family conflicts may decrease. She will have more vigor to pay attention to the family life.”

Among the respondents, 44.0 percent were men and 56.0 percent women. A total of 28.9 percent of the respondents live in first-tier cities, 47.5 percent in second-tier, 19.3 percent in third-and fourth-tier, while 4.0 percent reside in counties or towns.