LOCAL STRATEGIES IN RESALE HOME FINANCING IN THE TORONTO HOUSING-MARKET

Most analyses of mortgage lending within cities have provided only a partial view of home finance. In this paper a typology of home finance is developed and the incidence and spatial patterning of home finance types are evaluated for Metropolitan Toronto in 1976-77. The evidence suggests a clear spatial differentiation of home finance types and confirmation of hypothesised relationships between finance types and neighbourhood characteristics. In contrast to many UK and US cities, the availability of privately funded second mortgages allowed undercapitalised buyers, particularly European immigrants, to purchase inner-city housing with relatively low down payments. This was an important factor contributing to the lack of physical decay and abandonment in central Toronto during the period after World War II. © 1991, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.