Women account for just 11% of home loan approvals in 2025 despite strong ownership intent: Urban Money

Women continue to remain significantly underrepresented in India’s housing finance market despite rising participation in the workforce and a strong inclination towards property ownership, according to a new report by Urban Money, the fintech mortgage arm of Square Yards.

The report, Women and Housing Finance in India: Progress, Barriers and the Opportunity, shows that women accounted for just 11% of the 56,523 home loans approved in 2025 across 13 major housing markets tracked on the platform. The findings underline a sharp gap between women’s ownership aspirations and their access to housing credit.

The disparity is notable given that women make up nearly half of India’s population and account for around 30% of residential property registrations, while about 75% of women identify real estate as their preferred asset class.

The report also highlights differences in borrowing capacity. The average home loan ticket size for women stood at ₹23 lakh, compared with ₹29 lakh for men, indicating structural constraints linked to income levels and employment continuity.

Structural barriers limit access to housing finance

“India has made significant progress in women’s socio-economic participation. More women today pursue higher education, join the workforce and engage with formal financial instruments. However, this progress has not fully translated into access to housing finance and property ownership,” said Kanika Gupta Shori, COO and co-founder of Square Yards.

According to the report, structural factors continue to influence credit eligibility for women even before the loan application stage. Women account for 28% of the corporate workforce, with representation declining sharply at senior levels and falling to 8% at the CEO level, affecting income stability and documented repayment capacity.

Loan rejections among women borrowers are most commonly linked to insufficient income, unstable employment history, low credit scores and lack of credit history, reflecting broader systemic challenges in credit formation.

City-level trends show uneven progress 

City-level data shows uneven progress. Women outborrow men in only two markets—Gurugram and Noida. In Gurugram, women’s average loan size stood at ₹64.5 lakh versus ₹57.8 lakh for men, while in Noida it was ₹32.1 lakh compared with ₹29.4 lakh for men.

Meanwhile, Chennai recorded the lowest average loan size for women at ₹12.7 lakh, while Thane emerged as the most balanced market in terms of loan ticket sizes.

“The opportunity lies in going beyond surface-level incentives and introducing measures that improve credit eligibility itself,” said Amit Prakash Singh, co-founder and chief business officer at Urban Money, adding that enabling stronger independent credit participation among women could expand both financial inclusion and the housing finance market.

The report suggests that improving women’s participation in housing finance will require strengthening independent credit formation, expanding formal income documentation and refining underwriting models to better account for dual-income and non-linear career paths.

As India’s housing market continues to expand across metros and emerging urban centres, addressing these structural gaps could unlock a significant new borrower base. Greater financial inclusion of women in housing credit, the report suggests, would not only support homeownership but also deepen the overall housing finance market in the years ahead.