The price women pay: less savings, less super and more financial stress than men

Australian women are facing more financial stress than men, with the cost-of-living crisis and high interest rates pushing more than 7 million women into financial difficulty, a new report by Finder shows. Women also have less savings, superannuation and fewer investments than men, and six in 10 Australian women say they are enjoying life less than they were a year ago due to money worries.

As International Women’s Day gets underway on Friday, Finder’s personal finance expert, Sarah Megginson, said cost of living pressures are having an outsized impact on women. “Millions of women have found themselves experiencing higher levels of financial worry, especially as rents and mortgages have soared, putting a lot of pressure on your budget.”

The report found 69 percent of women are experiencing financial stress today compared to 49 percent of men. Housing expenses are causing the most strain, with 42 percent of female homeowners finding it hard to make their home loan repayments compared to 32 percent of men. Due to women earning less, the average aspiring female property purchaser needs to work three more years than a man to accumulate a 20 percent deposit for a house. Among renters, 48 percent of women surveyed by Finder are struggling to pay the rent compared to 40 percent of men.

Women also have 53 percent less cash savings than men. The average woman has $22,680 in savings and puts away $551 a month. The average man has $48,087 saved and squirrels away $832 per month. In January 2022, women had 15 weeks’ worth of savings. Two years later, this has fallen to less than 13 weeks, while men’s savings have marginally increased from 17.9 weeks’ worth to 18.3 weeks now.

Making ends meet for the basics of life means women are investing less than men, Ms Megginson said. The average Australian male investor has $88,775 invested in shares, which is double that of the average woman, who has $45,125 invested.

“The outsized impact of cost of living pressures on women has likely restricted their ability to invest,” Ms Megginson said. “Right now, the focus is on immediate needs – housing, everyday bills and groceries – which means longer-term wealth building gets put on the back burner. The research shows us that women are actually really great at keeping their debt levels down and saving – they generally outperform men in this regard. Still, their long-term wealth suffers.”

Last month the Federal Government released the first gender pay gap report comparing the wages and salaries of men and women employed at nearly 5,000 private sector companies. The results show that 50 percent of employers have a gender pay gap of more than 9.1 percent, and 62 percent of median employer gender pay gaps are more than five percent and favour men.

Diana Mousina, deputy chief economist at AMP, said that while unconscious gender biases in the workplace exist, other factors also contribute to the gap. This includes a lower female labour participation rate of 62.6percent compared to 71.1 percent for men, and a higher proportion of women working part-time. This is largely due to women taking a greater share of child care responsibilities within families. Women also dominate lower–paid industries that offer more flexible hours, such as health care and social assistance, while men dominate the lucrative construction, mining and energy industries where there is higher risk and less flexibility.

Ms Megginson said women retire with far less superannuation than men. The latest data published by the Australian Taxation Office shows men had about 20 percent more in superannuation than women on 30 June 2021. Yesterday, Federal Labor announced it would pay superannuation on top of government-funded paid parental leave from 1 July 2025 if it wins the next election.

Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by first-home buyer incentives or tax changes alone, with leading property figures warning governments must tackle supply constraints if affordability is to improve.

Speaking at the Kanebridge Quarterly Property Leadership Summit in Sydney last week, expert project marketing specialist Sam Elbanna, property investor and fund manager Paul Miron and property consultant Karla McNeice said that a lack of housing supply remained the central issue facing the market.

Elbanna, Director of CPM Realty with more than 30 years’ experience in project sales, argued that successive governments had focused too heavily on stimulating demand rather than addressing the barriers preventing new housing from being delivered.

“The misconception is that politicians think the way to solve the housing crisis is to drive demand,” he said.

“The reality is that’s not the way. This is a supply-side problem, and it needs to be solved on the supply side.”

Drawing on his experience in project sales, Elbanna said policies designed to help first-home buyers often had unintended consequences, pointing to previous grants that ultimately flowed through to higher property prices.

Instead, he said developers were facing increasing red tape, approval delays and rising costs, which were discouraging new housing supply.

“In the absence of stock, demand exceeds supply,” he said.

Miron, a Co-Founder and Fund Manager of Msquared Capital, said the housing debate had become overly focused on tax policy while overlooking broader structural issues.

He argued that affordability challenges stemmed from a combination of factors, including planning constraints, supply shortages, migration levels and interest rates.

“No-one can be 100 per cent certain on the real reason for property prices is going up,” he said.

“The reason why property prices are higher is a combination of interest rates, lack of supply, migration, vacancy rates and maybe taxes play a role.”

Miron was critical of recent federal housing policy changes, warning they could reduce the number of new homes being built and further constrain supply that was even highlighted in the budget.

He also highlighted the importance of the property sector to the broader economy, noting that residential real estate and related industries employed more than one million Australians.

McNeice, who advises developers on sales strategy and market intelligence, said understanding buyers had become increasingly important as affordability pressures intensified.

While affordability remained a major consideration, she said today’s buyers were focused on value rather than simply price.

“People are looking for value for money,” she said.

She said buyers were increasingly evaluating factors such as transport connections, walkability, nearby amenities and flexible living spaces that could accommodate changing family needs.

“What infrastructure is going on? Can I walk to the shops? Can I meet people at the local cafe?” she said.

The panel also discussed the mounting pressures facing developers, with Elbanna arguing that many projects become financially unviable from the moment a site is purchased.

“The viability of a development happens at the moment the site is bought,” he said.

He said rising construction costs, higher interest rates and overly optimistic feasibility assumptions had left some developers exposed as market conditions changed.

While acknowledging the growing number of smaller and first-time developers entering the market, Elbanna said property development required expertise across finance, construction, marketing and legal disciplines.

“It is actually a business that requires a level of expertise,” he said.

Looking ahead, the panel agreed opportunities remained in the market despite current challenges.

Miron said property should continue to be viewed as a long-term investment and cautioned against trying to time short-term market movements.

McNeice said success would increasingly depend on identifying projects that genuinely met changing buyer expectations.

Elbanna said affordable housing remained achievable, but developers needed to deliver more than just homes.

“We can provide affordable housing in this country,” he said.

“But we’ve got to wrap that affordable housing with the things that people want.”

As Australia’s housing affordability debate intensifies, the panellists agreed on one point: without a meaningful increase in housing supply, demand-side measures alone are unlikely to solve the nation’s property challenges.

The price women pay: less savings, less super and more financial stress than men

The average aspiring female property purchaser needs to work three more years than a man to accumulate a 20 percent deposit for a house, a new report has shown

Australia’s housing affordability crisis is being fuelled by chronic undersupply, planning delays and rising development costs, as politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.