SINGLE sisters are doing it for themselves. Refusing to buy into a Bridget Jones-style desperation to settle for Mr Average, savvy single girls would rather live it up on their own.

Statistics show that Australian single women now outnumber their married sisters for the first time in 85 years.

And they even have their new buzzword - being dubbed "freemales" by demographers, who say single women often earn more than their partnered sisters.

Rather than sitting at home bemoaning their single status, these women are blending careers with satisfying social lives and strong friendships rather than spending their weekends manhunting.

A survey of 500 women found 51.4 per cent favoured being single or cohabitation instead of married life.

And those who tied the knot were doing so at an older age - an average of 28 years in 2005, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which estimates that up to a quarter of women will never have children.

But most are prepared to take on other sorts of commitment, such as buying real estate alone.

Melbourne single woman, Chloe Dennis, 40, recently bought her first property; an apartment in Caulfield but had thought she would be sharing a mortgage with a partner.

"You're brought up in a society with the idea that one day you'll get married, buy a house with your partner and have children, but it didn't happen that way for me," said Ms Dennis, an accountant.

"It got to the point where I realised that if I didn't do this (buy a home) by myself, it might never happen. My financial clock was ticking."

Research shows that 18 per cent of women are investing in property either alone or with someone who is not a romantic partner.