Soft Negotiators or Modest Builders? Why Women Earn Lower Real Estate Returns *

Abstract

Using repeat-sales data on apartments in Sweden, we estimate the gender gap in real estate returns. We find that transactions executed by women earn 2 percentage points (pp) lower returns compared to those executed by men, which narrows down to less than 0.5 pp once renovations are taken into account. This residual gender gap is fully explained by the fact that women are less likely to select into real estate-relevant occupations and are older on average. We cannot confirm that the gender gap stems from men's higher ability to either time the market or negotiate aggressively.

Keywords: gender gap, real estate, returns