Is communal living the next form of homeownership?

As people migrate to major cities around the world every day, the need to take advantage of every square inch of space becomes more and more crucial, which is why we think collaborative consumption (or a sharing economy) and communal living may be the way of the future.

There are different forms of collaborative consumption, but essentially, it means that everyone living within a community depends more on sharing than owning. Let’s start with a breakdown of two types of collaborative consumption.

A product-service system means that people living within a community have a system in place that allows them access to products and services when they need them, and everything is shared. For example, we’re seeing many developers including designated car-share parking spots in underground garages below new condos.

Many developers in the downtown core have recognized that younger buyers not only aren’t interested in owning a car, but in most cases, can’t even afford one. Daniels’ completed HighPark residence offers car-share spots, and there are many other condos that have ZipCar or Car2Go spots in their garages.

Daniels is actually a very good example of a developer embracing collaborative consumption. The first condo at Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts, Lighthouse Tower, will feature an art studio and a kitchen library. The art studio will be a shared space where artists living in the building can set up their materials to create.

The kitchen library is pure genius in our opinion. With condo units getting smaller in general, kitchen space is obviously decreasing as well. No matter how creative interior designers get, ample counter space and cabinet storage is hard to come by, unless you’re purchasing a large unit, which young buyers typically aren’t.

Lighthouse’s kitchen library (top image) will allow residents to sign out kitchen appliances, just like they would take out a book at the public library. Many condo dwellers want to cook healthy, homemade dishes, but they can’t store a big mixer anywhere, or they can’t afford to buy a decent bread maker or any other large appliance for that matter. Daniels’ solution saves young condo dwellers money and space, giving them access to products that they would otherwise go without.

Another example of collaborative consumption is through redistristribution markets. An example of this is the Facebook marketplace groups that have become so popular in densely populated condo neighbourhoods.  

The Liberty Village Buy and Sell group was created by residents in order to sell, buy, and trade goods only with other residents of the neighbourhood or people who are willing to travel to Liberty Village. The group has nearly 7,000 members and numerous items are posted for sale every day, almost every hour. Since the majority of the items are used, everything is more affordable than buying new from a store, so this is great way of saving money. A quick scan through the members list and you’ll discover that most are young condo dwellers.

Art studio at Lighthouse Tower

Is communal living the next step of collaborative consumption?

The success of collaborative consumption is clearly spurred by technological advancements, including social media use, plus population growth, and a need for more affordable living. And it’s clear that there are many benefits, such as reducing our environmental impact, the establishment of more tightly knit communities due to the need for more communication, and the obvious, people having access to things that they can’t afford to own.  

So, is communal living the next logical step? Earlier this month, Fast Company reported that office share company, WeWork, moved 80 of its employees into a 45-unit communal living area in order to test their new residential building on Wall Street in New York. Eventually, this 20-floor building will house 600 people. The building will have communal areas, potluck dining areas, and other shared spaces, much like every condo in Toronto.

Looking into the past, we find evidence of communal living in some Native American tribes’ lifestyles. Plank houses were typically fabricated from cedar and would house numerous families all under one roof.

Are all these recent innovations, such as car-sharing, digital marketplaces, and kitchen libraries, signs that we are moving towards communal living? Perhaps we'll see young condo buyers in large groups teaming up to purchase more spacious units or even houses. Would you purchase a piece of a building and share living space with strangers who would ideally become friends and family?