Breaking the investment barrier: Tips for women investors
In Australia, where only 11.4 per cent of women own investment properties, a seasoned female investor shares tips to help more women enter the property market this International Women’s Day.
In 2015, despite being a real estate agent for five years, Tina O’Connor felt nervous about buying her first property.
“One of the biggest barriers was confidence, because when you’re doing it alone, it’s scary,” O’Connor said.
“You are buying a property on your own and if it doesn’t work, there is no one to fall back upon.”
Despite her uncertainty, O’Connor bought her first apartment in Sydney.
“I bought an apartment because I was a single person and the chances of me being able to afford a house on my own back then would have been slim,” she said.
In Australia, home ownership is now relatively equal between genders, mostly due to co-ownership where women invest with their romantic partners.
CoreLogic’s latest 2025 Women & Property survey showed that 80.3 per cent of the female respondents co-owned their property with a male partner, and 11.6 per cent owned with their female partner.
The report showed the gap increased with single women, as 40 per cent of women who do not own any investments attribute it to affordability and low income.
Additionally, only 58.9 per cent of women earning less than $100,000 reported owning a home, compared to 85.5 per cent of those earning $100,000 or more.
O’Connor said income is one of the biggest barriers for women who want to become home owners or investors.
“The biggest challenge is trying to make that single income stretch, especially if you are single with a child or children,” she said.
“If you’re going to buy a property on a single income, you have to either earn quite good money or move further out of the city to get something you can afford.”
After a few years, in 2019, O’Connor sold her first apartment for a bigger one before buying her first investment property in Queensland last year.
For International Women’s Day, she shares her tips for women looking to start their property or investment journey.
Find a mentor
According to O’Connor, building confidence is one of the biggest challenges for women who wish to invest in properties.
“When you don’t have anyone to fall back upon, it is hard,” she said.
She advises women to find a mentor – someone with experience and respect in business, possibly older, to guide them through their investment journey.
“I had somebody that I could talk to that was very good at investing and gave me a lot of advice, and almost every move that I made, I ran it by him.”
O’Connor said everybody, regardless of gender, should seek mentorship, as it is crucial for success and growth.
“Everybody needs somebody they can bounce ideas off of and I think that person will enjoy helping you as well.
“It could be a female mentor, it could be a male mentor – it doesn’t matter,” she said.
Learn to manage your money
O’Connor said investors should build a strong relationship with a broker to help them manage their money and stretch their dollars.
“A good broker will help you understand how to invest with your wages, and that could be the difference between having a portfolio and not.”
Additionally, O’Connor said brokers can help use the equity in the current property to purchase the next one without needing to save for a deposit or stamp duty.
She said that practical tips from a broker can make a big difference in building a property portfolio.
Invest in your learning
With the advent of social media, O’Connor said it is easy to find some financial or property course online to develop knowledge.
She said future investors should take the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and build an understanding of the market.
For investors short on cash, she recommends using LinkedIn or Instagram to build a network and learn from others who have already built a portfolio.
“There are plenty of real estate, financial, or investing tips on social media, of course you don’t want to run off and just do something somebody tells you on the Internet.
“If you do your due diligence, you can find a trusted mentor.”
Think about rentvesting
O’Connor’s last tip is to think about rentvesting, and for women not to limit themselves where they live.
She said that, especially for Sydneysiders, opportunities exist in other areas outside of the city.
“Just because you want to invest doesn’t mean that you have to invest in Sydney; there are plenty of opportunities in different areas across the country.”
She said future investors should seek advice from buyer agents and financial experts to explore investments and expand horizons, leading to discovering properties that offer strong returns and capital growth.
Fuel your mindset
While investment barriers still exist for women, O’Connor believes that mindset is the key to success.
“Women can do absolutely anything that a man can do. They just need to believe that, though,” she concluded.