Sneha Sharon Mammen

Women today are inching closer to a self-made life. From education to a high flying corporate life to ownership of property – every avenue is being explored by women. Real estate, often considered a man’s territory, has also had to share this space with women.

Kavya Krishnakumar, working with an advertising agency based out of Noida says, “Buying a house is a liberating experience. I would really want to be the only one financing the whole project but I do not mind if my spouse wants to share the expenses.” For the economically independent woman today, real estate is a security she can bank on.

For Vidisha Dubey, 40, a single woman, real estate was a far better investment option than gold. “A house in your name means you are free of botheration such as having to shift when the landlord asks you to, having to pay rent, compromising on the location, etc. In the wake of rising property prices, I am trying to secure my future as well.”

Even the industry realises that the modern woman has more access to information, more financial stability than those in the yester-years and is equally influential in making decisions at home. In fact, this Women’s Day could be an opportune one for women investors.

New beginnings

Tata Housing and State Bank of India are teaming up to provide incentivised home loan interest rates for women buyers at 9.5 per cent per annum. Under SBI’s HER GHAR scheme, even the processing fees on home loans are being waived. Developers too are coming up with deals for women investors. For example, Mahila Samridhi Housing Scheme gives you a 40 per cent subsidy on the booking amount.

Sakshi Vasudeva, who works with IIM Bangalore says, “Government should come up with not only pro-poor schemes but pro-woman schemes as well that could take rural as well as the urban woman within its fold. Where women are financially not at par with the men folk, instances of exploitation double up. Having a house of one’s own boosts one’s confidence.”

Almost all the women we talked to feel that with the change in lifestyles, mingling with people from various strata of the society, work life and the fact that the fairer sex is equally securing the financial backbone of the family, has put a question mark on the very term ‘weaker sex’.

May the force be with women!