Highest strata fees are found in tallest buildings, finds CMHC study – but what’s the average cost?

Do you ever wonder whether the fees on the condo you’re living in – or thinking of buying – are typical for the type of building?

A new report released July 4 by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reveals the average condo fee in Canada, across all building types and ages, to be $302 a month. The report uses the most recent available nationwide census and survey data up to 2011.

The average condo fee varied significantly between high- and low-rise buildings, and the age of the building. Households living in high-rise towers paid significantly more than those living in low-rise buildings and townhomes or row houses.

Condo fees were also found to get progressively higher, the older the building.

The CHMC said, “In 2011, this trend was consistent among fee payers living in high-rise buildings and row houses, and somewhat consistent in other dwelling types.

It added, “Fee payers living in older dwellings were more likely to occupy units with more bedrooms than fee payers living in newer dwellings.”

The report also broke the results down by province and city, with average condos fees in Vancouver standing at slightly lower than the national averages, at $265 a month for a low-rise apartment, $320 a month for a high-rise and $238 for a row home/townhouse.

The CMHC found that across Canada, an increasing percentage of homeowners pay condo fees, as condo ownership gradually increases compared with single-family home ownership. The proportion of households in owner-occupied dwellings who said they pay strata fees increased from 7.5% in 1996 to 12.7% in 2011.

Unsurprisingly, households paying strata fees were found to have lower average incomes than other homeowners. The inflation-adjusted average pre-tax income of households paying condo fees was 10% lower than households not paying strata fees in 1995, and this income gap increased to 25% in 2010.

For the full report download at: http://bit.ly/2tH9Mvf