You need a woman in a crisis

According to the latest data from residential consultancy REAS, as many as 46,100 homes were being offered by developers in Poland at the end of Q2 this year. In Warsaw the number reached 18,500, of which 4,000 were finished. The number of homes on sale is gradually growing, at the end of Q1 there were 42,000 of them. "There were not so many apartments available even when the market was at its most euphoric. The current levels have broken the 2008 record, when we were still in a residential boom. Capital city developers sold as many as 6,160 apartments during H1 this year, whereas in the years 2007-2010 they sold between 11,500 and 12,000 per year on average," reveals Katarzyna Kuniewicz, research director at REAS.

Who will buy these beautiful apartments?
Who is going to buy all these homes? And who decides whether to buy them or not? Increasingly the answer seems to be: women. For Warsaw-based developer Dolcan, the majority of contracts are still signed with married couples. However, when a single person buys an apartment, women outnumber men by as much as 30 pct. "Contrary to everything we know about the changing rôle of women, men feel more confused and less competent when it comes to matters concerning family and home. So they are more willing to take a backseat. Women, on the other hand, feel a great deal of responsibility for such matters, so they do not shy away from making decisions. The model in which it is the woman who cares and thinks more about the current or future family is still very much alive. More often it is the women who have a vision for what the kitchen should look like, how it is going to be for the children and where the place for working or studying should be, etc. Men are more interested in the price and the instalments," claims Krzysztof Wielecki, a sociologist from the University of Warsaw. According to estate agents Home Broker, women are taking to the task of finding a home more often than men. Over 50 pct of clients who visit the branches of the company are women. However, they are not necessarily more promising clients than men. The statistics show that they tend to have slightly smaller budgets than men and are interested in smaller apartments.

A well thought-out purchase
"In our experience it is the women who deal with finding the location and a suitable property, whereas men take on the negotiations and the formal aspects of the purchase," says Andrzej Gutowski, sales and marketing director of Ronson. The fairer sex pays more attention to the layout of rooms in apartments, while the location of the kitchen is also an important factor for them. According to Włodarzewska Development: "Female clients ask about the location of an apartment in the building, check the views from the windows and enquire about utility rooms. They are also interested in the layout of the estate, the proximity of schools, nursery schools and playgrounds. However, the visual aspects are not the only ones that are important. Women are increasingly often asking about the technical issues and they are the ones who tend to take care of the renovations of apartments later. "Men are mostly interested in the location, access to the main traffic arteries in the city and parking spaces. They conduct the price negotiations, even though the final decision about the purchase is basically made by women," explains Adriana Maruszak, residential investment sales director at Grupa Buma.

Location, location, location
According to the statistics, families tend to buy homes on the outskirts of cities. The centre and districts with good access to the main road arteries are favoured by singles and unmarried couples. "Quite a lot of apartments in popular districts are bought by parents for their student children. And such purchases are financed by cash," adds Andrzej Gutowski. In the period from April to June, Ronson sold 83 apartments. As many as 65 pct were bought by couples. Singles constituted 35 pct, out of which men made 55 pct of the transactions and women 45 pct. However, in the Gemini II development in Warsaw's Ursynów district the ratios were a little different. Couples bought 70 pct of apartments in the building; however, transactions by women dominated the remaining 30 pct - accounting for 58 pct of the remainder. Nevertheless, the data still shows that families are the most important group. "Apartments in our projects are mainly bought by married couples. If the husband is the only one who comes to a meeting, there is always the 'I have to discuss it with my wife' statement at the end. Our clients also include a lot of well-off women who sign preliminary agreements themselves," reveals Marta Drogosz of Włodarzewska. Grupa Buma has had similar experiences. As many as 80 pct of their apartments are bought by families. "This results from the specific features of our projects and the adjustment of existing projects to the needs of buyers. For example, our project in Kraków - Osiedle Familijne - has been specifically designed in a way that satisfies families' needs best. Consequently, the majority of residents are families. When it came to our luxury apartments, around 70 pct of them were bought by singles - women and men in equal proportions," says Adriana Maruszak of Grupa Buma.

Around the world
Interestingly, the rôle of women is starting to be appreciated by developers operating in the Middle East. The property market in Kuwait, similar to those of neighbouring states, is currently beset with problems. So the country's politicians have come up with an idea for livening it up. Legislation has been passed to give women, for the first time in the country's history, the right to apply for a mortgage. Up until now this privilege was reserved for men. According to the act, women can apply for a mortgage of up to USD 255,000. Since the new law came into force, real estate agencies have immediately noticed an improvement on the market. According to the Arabianbusiness.com portal, developers are buying plots again for new residential projects just so that they can respond to the demand from this new type of customer.