FNB Data Reveals Women Account for 51% of Repeat Home Buyers for the First Time in 10 Years
Written on
New FNB data shows repeat home buyers accounted for 51% of female home loan applications in 2025, the first time in a decade they have outnumbered first-time buyers among women.
FNB data reveals that, for the first time in a decade, repeat home buyers now outnumber first-time buyers among South African women applying for home loans, signalling a significant shift from first-time homeownership to long-term property ownership and wealth creation.
New FNB Home and Structured Lending data, tracking home-buying trends between 2015 and 2025, shows that women are increasingly moving beyond first-time homeownership. In 2025, repeat buyers accounted for 51% of female home loan applications, marking the first time in a decade that they have outnumbered first-time buyers.
The shift suggests that a growing number of women are using homeownership as a vehicle for long-term wealth creation. Despite affordability pressures, women are also moving into higher-value property segments: over the past decade, the number of women purchasing properties valued above R1 million has doubled, rising from 21% to 42%.
According to Vanashree Naidoo, FNB's Home & Structured Lending Product Head, the decade-long trend points to progression. "The most compelling story in the data is one of progression. More women are not only entering the property market, but progressing within it," she said.
Women have also strengthened their position among first-time home buyers: their share of approved first-time home loan applications rose from 43% in 2015 to 52% in 2025, placing them ahead of men. The data also reveals affordability dynamics, with female first-time buyers earning an average of R5,431 less per month than their male counterparts while allocating a larger share of their income to repayments, at around 22% of monthly income.
Despite the greater relative repayment burden, women's repayment performance remains marginally stronger: approximately 96.2% of women's home loan accounts are up to date, slightly higher than the 95.9% recorded among men. More than half of female-only property purchases between 2015 and 2025 were concluded without bond finance, pointing to women increasingly drawing on other funding sources.