Co-ownership helped these people buy homes in real-estate hotspot

Walking around Heidi Woodley's home feels like a fairy tale.

Her bright blue cottage sits on a hill next to seven other colourful houses. They're surrounded by tall cedars, lush gardens, winding pathways and a gnome sculpture named Finn. 

"Some days I pinch myself," says Woodley, 53, a single mother of two. "It's very magical."

Her dream of owning the charming two-bedroom cottage in the Horseshoe Bay area of West Vancouver — one of Canada's most expensive municipalities, where the price of a detached house generally starts around $2 million — came true with the help of a dozen strangers and the concept of co-ownership. 

When the property with the eight cottages came on the market in 2021, the $3.8 million price tag was way beyond Woodley's means. But thanks to several people who are now her neighbours, along with investors aiming to help people get into B.C.'s housing market, they were able to meet the price. 

Splitting a mortgage through co-ownership is one way British Columbians are trying to become homeowners in a housing market that has some of the highest property prices and rents in Canada.

Co-ownership can take many forms. Generally, it allows a group of people on the land title and includes one mortgage, with each co-owner responsible for their proportionate share. 

In 2023, six per cent of Canadians said they co-own their home with someone other than a spouse or significant other. Seventy six per cent of those said their decision was motivated by affordability challenges, according to a Royal LePage survey. 

"There's no possible way I'd be able to buy anything, I'd be renting and it'd probably not be the best rental, said Matt Fidler, 42, one of Woodley's co-owners and neighbours. 

The neighbours share amenities like laundry and a tool shed, and share repair work on the cottages, which were built more than a century ago. Communication is done via a WhatsApp group chat and occasionally over a bottle of wine.

Due to the size of the group, Woodley and her neighbours formed a company called HSB Cottages Ltd., with each of them becoming shareholders in the half-acre property.

Each resident pays a monthly fee based on square footage that covers mortgage payments, insurance, utilities and taxes.

It meant that each resident didn't face the pressure to get a hefty mortgage. They were able to buy shares with whatever financial capacity they had, explained Noam Dolgin, a Realtor and founder of Collaborative Home Ownership B.C., who helped facilitate the purchase of the cottages. 

Non-traditional methods of home ownership aren't always easy, Dolgin cautions.