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Unpacking the rise of alternative homeownership dynamics and their implications for lenders and mortgage software.
Homebuying once usually followed one of two predictable paths: Get married and purchase a home with your spouse. Or, for single folks, simply go forward with the purchase yourself and secure a co-signer if needed.
Fueled in large part by affordability challenges (since 2020, home prices have increased by over 50%), many are now forging new pathways toward homeownership. Through non-spousal co-buying, often referred to as simply “co-buying,” people are pooling resources to qualify for more competitive financing and expand their housing options. After moving in, these co-buyers keep costs low by dividing recurring and incidental expenses, from monthly mortgage payments to maintenance.
In 2025, unmarried romantic partners comprised 11% of first-time buyers and 6% of all homebuyers. Non-spousal co-buyer relationships can be platonic, too, though. Siblings, aging parents, and even longtime friends fall under the co-buyer umbrella. In fact, a survey found that almost 15% of Americans had co-purchased a home with a non-romantic partner.
For mortgage lenders, these numbers can’t be ignored. Nor can they be chalked up to younger generations bucking traditionalism—15% of baby boomer renters and 35% of Gen X renters have expressed interest in co-buying a home with a friend.
How mortgage lenders can adjust to new co-buyer dynamics
Mortgage lenders are seeing growing interest in co-buying and must prepare to handle the complexities these arrangements can bring, most notably:
- Collective eligibility: Loan officers must assess multiple income streams, assets, debt-to-income ratios, and credit scores.
- Ownership and liability structures: Co-buyers often have non-standard title arrangements, uneven ownership percentages, and disclosures that require accurate representation across systems.
- Risk assessments: Combining co-buyers’ variables can shift risk calculations and the data required to feed these calculations, making mortgage software that can cleanly model a range of borrower scenarios critical.
That said, these “complexities” are only really complex when lenders are operating on outdated mortgage origination software.
Legacy technology was built around single or married borrower scenarios, which can make processing co-buyer eligibility a struggle. These systems also frequently require tedious, costly workarounds to accurately calculate risk from pooled variables, slowing responses and approval timelines. Disconnected systems further complicate matters, creating unreliable, incomplete data that can derail the co-buying process entirely.
Smooth co-buying origination is absolutely possible, but loan officers need an LOS that is capable of handling it effectively.
Why modern mortgage software matters
Modern mortgage software handles a broad spectrum of co-buyer scenarios, allowing teams to:
- Gather and analyze current, complete data through direct integration with your core and cross-department systems.
- Capture and validate multiple borrower profiles without errors, bottlenecks, or the need for manual workarounds.
- Model incomes, credits, and liability scenarios reliably and quickly while maintaining separation between personal information within each application.
- Produce accurate individual and shared disclosures for atypical ownership structures.
- Deliver a unified borrower experience that keeps all parties within co-buyer setups on track and up to date for faster service.
As affordability constraints continue, co-buying popularity ticks upward, and digital-first experiences become the expectation. The lenders best positioned to convert those co-buyers to funded loans are the ones who can meet the above criteria.
To meet this demand, lenders are turning to MeridianLink® Mortgage—our next-generation platform that brings greater flexibility and efficiency to both teams and borrowers. Its configurable automation rules make it easy to adapt to unique origination scenarios, while built-in and third-party PPE and POS options help streamline loan cycles and reduce operational strain. As volumes grow and market conditions shift, cloud-based scalability and regular compliance updates allow teams to keep pace with confidence. Meanwhile, intelligent workflows and real-time communications ensure that all applicants—traditional and nontraditional—stay aligned, informed, and moving forward throughout the process.
Position your business for growth with technology designed around how borrowers expect to buy and finance homes. From supporting co-buyer scenarios to strengthening margins, MeridianLink Mortgage helps improve performance and profitability.
