Torontonians turning to co-ownership as a means for housing affordability
Strength in numbers. That's the idea behind a certain coping mechanism for housing affordability in Toronto. And with a little more momentum it could turn into a full-on trend.
Conventional thinking is that co-ownership should be reserved for spousal partners. That an investment of that nature is too significant to be contingent on things just 'working out' with anyone else.
But why?
The notion of embarking down the path of co-ownership with a friend—or perhaps even a properly vetted stranger—isn't all that revolutionary. Just because it's currently more common for that to happen in a renting situation doesn't mean that it can't eventually become normalized for home ownership.
And as CBC, among others, have discovered through investigation, circumstances in Toronto are dictating that it's starting to.
For example, CBC spoke to two 20-something best friends who have rented together as roommates and are now planning to buy a home together. Without the other's help, neither could come anywhere close to affording the $1-million property they will now be able to purchase.
They are not ignoring the risks inherent to this endeavour. It's a given that they will sign pre-nup-style legal documents that protect their interests should something go wrong. But this actually just further underscores the normality of co-ownership. When formatted correctly, it's really not all that different from co-ownership between spousal partners. With so many marriages ending in divorce, one could even argue that this type of arrangement is more likely to lead to long-term co-habitation stability than marriage would.
That certainly what real estate lawyer Lauren Blumas has found. She works for a law firm, Iler Campbell, that has finalized approximately 50 co-ownership agreements through the years. To the best of its knowledge, only three of them ended in a relationship breakdown.
One real estate agent in Toronto has made it a personal mission to provide fuel for the practice of co-ownership, and to normalize the idea of going about it with strangers. Lesli Gaynor recently hosted an educational event in the Annex neighbourhood where she discussed the steps that need to be taken to go about co-ownership safely. On May 4 she'll take things a step further by hosting a speed-dating-type of activity for people interested in co-ownership. It'll be structured around people's housing priorities.
If that sounds crazy, just remember how expensive many of Toronto's houses have gotten recently. Now that's crazy.