A listing on Facebook Marketplace offered an unusual living arrangement: sharing half of a queen-size bed.
This unconventional offer, which has since been removed, went viral on TikTok where a Toronto-based realtor broke down how the listing reveals the tumultuous state of Canada’s housing market.
“Just when you thought the Toronto market couldn’t get any worse, it did,” Anya Ettinger said in the TikTok video.
@aserealty just when you thought the Toronto rental market couldn’t get any worse, it did. Someone is trying to rent out a space in their queen sized bed in a downtown condo for $900/mo. And the worst part is that someone is actually going to rent this… SEND HELP #rentalmarket #roomrental #torontorentals #rentalcrisis #realestatefail
The listing was searching for “an easy going female to share the master bedroom and the one Queen-sized bed.” The cost? A hefty $1,900 upfront, covering the first and last month’s rent and an additional $100 for the key fob.
“I have been previously sharing the bedroom, which only has one queen size with a roommate I found on Facebook and it worked out perfectly well!” the listing said. Of course, we have some doubts about that.
“A cost-of-living crisis has been brewing for some time and a severe housing shortage in high-growth areas, but COVID-19 only exacerbated this issue,” said Vince Cordova, who works for financial services company, Mercer. “Inflation and cost of living impact everyone, and it’s imperative to keep in mind that those who make the least are impacted the most.”
And desbite the absurdity of sharing a bed with someone you met on Facebook Marketplace, it appears that for some, “hot bedding” — sharing a bed with a stranger to save money on rent — is a solution some people are looking to during the housing crisis. A 2021 survey by the University of Technology Sydney polled 7,000 international students living in Sydney and Melbourne, and found the 3% of respondents had resorted to hot-bedding to save on rent.
