Home ownership shifting in B.C.

TD Bank says it is noticing “a shift toward non-traditional ways” of purchasing property, a trend driven both by financial necessity and personal choice, reports The Vancouver Sun.

Many more singles — professional people and the newly divorced or widowed — are purchasing property these days.

The bank also is seeing the “collaboration of two families, or parents and siblings pooling their resources to purchase a home for everyone to live in.

“Alternatively, parents may offer a down payment gift to their children to purchase a condo.”

And more of these sorts of arrangements are taking place in B.C. than elsewhere, she says. While 67 per cent of property purchasing nationally is done by couples, only 60 per cent of B.C.’s homebuyers are married or “partners.”

The rest are part of the expanding, non-traditional market.

In Vancouver, where land goes for a king’s ransom, teaming up on a mortgage can mean the difference between renting and owning.

More Mortgage Guide