Canadian women cite financial security as the best aspect about owning a home, a recent poll by TD Canada Trust has found.

The TD Canada Trust Women and Home Ownership Poll, which surveyed 1,000 women who have independently purchased a home, found that 43% said financial security was the best thing about home ownership.

“The 2009 poll results show that women continue to see a home as an important part of their financial security,” said Joan Dal Bianco, vice-president of real estate secured lending at TD Canada Trust.

The most important factor impacting the decision to buy a home is cost, at 98%, followed by neighbourhood and location at 97% and security and safety at 96%.

Surprisingly, proximity to work and to family are lower on the list of factors impacting home purchase, at 72% and 65% respectively.

“Since the poll shows that cost is the number one deciding factor, the lower housing prices and attractive mortgage rates we are experiencing mean this is a great time for women who have been planning to purchase a home to get into the market,” Dal Bianco said.

Two-thirds of the women polled across the country purchased their first home more than 10 years ago and 41% of the women surveyed are still living in their first home.

Canadian women of all ages purchase homes independently, with 37% of women purchasing their first home on their own between the ages of 18 and 29, 30% between 30 and 39 and 33% over 40.

Of the respondents, 67% said their first home was a house, while 14% were condominiums and 9% were townhouses.

When asked if they would be more or less likely to buy a home now due to the current economy, a significant 64% of women said that the economy had no impact on their decision to buy a home right now. A quarter of women said they would be less likely to buy right now, and 10% said they would be more likely to buy.