Montreal renters are turning to apartment swapping amid ‘crazy’ affordability crunch

globalnews.ca:

“Apartment swap only,” begins the advertisement for renter Adam Reider’s three-bedroom, ground-floor apartment in Montreal’s sought-after Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood.The spacious home, which also has access to a private yard, parking and an unfinished basement, is listed at $960 per month on Facebook marketplace. It’s right by the Metro system and provides easy access to downtown.

The rent is enviable compared to the national average for three-bedroom apartments — which hit $2,413 in July.And that is why Reider is open only to an apartment swap, which is a mutually agreed-upon transfer of two separate leases, with another tenant who has the exact apartment his family of four needs.His self-managed listing has been up for months and Reider says he receives up to 30 messages per day from hopeful renters in a city with little supply and high demand.“You MUST have an apartment to exchange leases,” the advertisement reads. “Tell me what you have to offer in return, or you will not get a reply.

We are NOT interested in giving up this amazing apartment unless you have an apartment to offer in return.”Reider is patient, describing the process as a “marathon, not a sprint.” He is prioritizing his family’s needs, which include a bigger space and rent within a $2,000 budget. The family cannot compromise on location since the two children need to be able to get to school by public transit.But Reider, who has lived in the same place for 13 years, has also received offers of financial compensation in the thousands to take over his lease from desperate Montrealers who don’t have an apartment to swap.“It’s sort of like the market is pressuring people to spend that kind of money to buy somebody else’s lease,” he says.