New platform helps young investors crack Toronto's real estate market

For most young people these days, the prospect of owning a home feels pretty distant at best — and impossible at worst. The Canadian real estate market, in major cities especially, has become such that only those with large amounts of capital available to them are able to invest in property.

With added obstacles like mortgage stress tests and student loan debt, the entry to investing seems impossibly high — even more so with the added economic stress of the pandemic. It’s daunting to consider saving for a down payment amidst all the things working against you while planning for all the other big life things, too.

Despite all this, young people still dream of owning something, even if we have to save for five times as long as our parents did.

This is why real estate crowdfunding platforms like addy are doing the work to make investing more accessible for younger generations. addy’s goal is to remove barriers to real estate investing by offering investments for as little as $1.

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So how does it work? While addy can’t change the high cost of the housing market, it can make it easier for people to get into the game for the first time. addy scopes out properties and then offers incremental investments on those properties — and all you need is $1 to start.

The properties are chosen by addy’s team of experts, who have decades of experience, ensuring that properties are sound investments. addy also becomes a co-investor in the property, sharing in the risk and reward alongside you. The property is then broken down into investment units starting at $1.

addy handles all the other tricky details of homeownership, from the contracts to finding tenants to conducting maintenance — all you do as an investor is watch as the value of your investment grows. Investors can make money from rental income on specific properties, either in the form of distributions or as a lump sum once the property is sold.

The benefit of using addy to start out as an investor is that the work required on your end is very low, and it results in returns that can be used to continue investing in the future — or to buy a place on your own one day. The properties that addy acquires vary, too, so you can wait to invest until it feels right. One of their previous properties in Chilliwack, BC, was a free-standing commercial property that sold out to more than 800 investors.

The Northwood Terrace apartments/addy

addy’s most recent property, open to investors now, is located in Toronto’s high-end Lawrence Park neighbourhood. The Northwood Terrace apartments are a 19-building, 95-unit, multi-family portfolio, which will be undergoing major renovations to increase their market value. Both BC and Ontario residents are invited to invest in the property, with a minimum investment of $1 and a maximum of $1,500.

If you’re interested in investing in this Toronto property or are curious about addy’s other investment properties, check out their website and sign up for a free addy wallet account to be notified when new properties are available.