Types of Homes in Canada: Houses, Townhouses, Condos, Co-ops and Leasehold

The main types of home in Canada, as Statistics Canada’s census counts them, are single-detached houses, semi-detached houses, row houses, apartments (including flats in duplexes) and movable dwellings such as mobile homes. Homes are owned in different ways: freehold, as a condominium, through a co-operative, or as a lease of limited duration. The building type and the form of ownership are separate questions: a condominium is a form of legal ownership, not a style of construction, so a townhouse or even a detached house can be a condo. For a particular purchase (a duplex, a cottage, land, a modular home) see the guides in this section.

Types of houses

These are the main types, with the definitions used in CMHC’s housing data and by Statistics Canada:

Single-detached houses are still the most common type: 52.6% of dwellings in the 2021 census. The share varies a lot by place: British Columbia had the lowest proportion of single-detached houses in 2021, at 42.4%, and 30.7% of dwellings in the Toronto large urban centre were apartments in buildings of five or more storeys.

Bungalows, split-levels and two-storey houses are styles of single-family home rather than separate types.

Freehold, condo, co-op or leasehold

Condominium names by province. In British Columbia a condominium corporation is called a strata corporation, and in Quebec a syndicate of co-owners. In Quebec the syndicate is created when a declaration of co-ownership is registered, and a co-owner’s fraction is their unit plus their share of the common elements. Condo ownership is very different from owning a home freehold: the corporation’s bylaws govern how it is run, and its rules are usually easier to change than bylaws.

Leasehold. With a leasehold home you buy a long-term lease, for example 99 years in a British Columbia strata leasehold, and the landlord keeps the land. In Ontario, the owner’s right to occupy a leasehold condo unit ends automatically when the lease expires, and leasehold condo corporations are not common in Ontario. British Columbia’s government lists the risks for strata leaseholds:

• The lease’s value tends to decline as the end of the term approaches.
• Mortgage providers may require a higher down payment, and may be reluctant to issue or renew mortgages towards the end of the lease term.
• Ground rent the developer didn’t fully prepay may become an obligation of later owners.
• The lease may set the compensation at the end of the lease to $0.

For an insured mortgage, CMHC counts 100% of the site or ground rent on a leasehold in the debt service ratios, against 50% of condo fees. Leaseholds also come up on First Nations reserve land: the Indian Act protects reserve property so it can’t be mortgaged by a non-First Nation person, and some First Nations lease land for market housing for members and non-members. Mobile homes in land-lease parks are covered on the modular and mobile homes page, and cottages on leased land on the cottage mortgage page.

Townhouses

Statistics Canada defines a row dwelling as one of a row of three or more dwellings attached to each other, without dwellings above or below. Stacked townhouses are one of the forms a condominium can take. In British Columbia, a townhouse in a strata (condo) development may look identical to a row house that isn’t strata-titled:

• Freehold townhouse. Owners who own both their home and the land it is on hold it in fee simple.
• Condo townhouse. Your unit is typically the inside of the house, while the exterior and the land it sits on are common elements. You pay monthly condo fees that go toward the upkeep of the common property.
• Freehold condominium. Some condo townhouses include the land: you own the house and its plot, and still pay condo fees for the corporation’s common property. In Ontario, a common elements condominium has no units, only common elements shared by the owners of parcels of tied land (POTL), who buy a common interest attached to their parcel.

A condo corporation’s policy doesn’t cover your contents, improvements to your unit or your liability. The condo insurance guide explains the unit-owner policy.

A condo townhouse and a condo apartment are both condominiums, because a condo is a form of ownership, not a style of construction; as a building, a townhouse is a ground-oriented home attached to similar units, with no home above or below. Financing a condo townhouse is covered under buying a condo.

Co-op housing

A housing co-op is run by its residents: every member gets a vote in approving the budget, electing directors and setting policies. Co-ops range from townhouses and small buildings with a handful of units to apartment buildings with hundreds.

Non-profit co-ops. Most housing co-ops in British Columbia are non-profit. There, members buy shares to join, under a rental (not equity) model: they have no landlord and pay monthly housing charges, usually set at what the co-op needs to break even after its operating expenses and money set aside for long-term repairs. British Columbia’s housing co-op federation says shares usually range from $1,000 to $7,000, and non-profit co-ops don’t return share purchases with interest. British Columbia non-profit co-ops are mixed-income: some members pay a housing charge based on their income, usually about 30% of gross household income, while others pay close to market rates.

Equity co-ops. In an equity (or homeownership) co-op, an investment is required which, along with any profit earned, is returned to the co-op’s investors. British Columbia has a few equity co-ops, and equity co-ops aren’t eligible for CMHC’s Co-operative Housing Development Program.

Getting in. Each co-op decides who becomes a member, and most have waiting lists, which may be long for people who need subsidized housing. In British Columbia, applicants who want to pay less than full housing charges usually wait longer than those who pay full charges. Once the board approves you and offers a unit, most co-ops have you sign an occupancy agreement. In British Columbia, housing co-ops are independent, each with its own application process, so you apply to each one.

A condo or an apartment

“Condo” names a way of owning; “apartment” names a kind of building. A condominium is a form of legal ownership, not a style of construction, and in Ontario’s Condominium Authority’s words, a condo could resemble a park, a parking lot or even an empty field. An apartment is a self-contained unit in a building, reached from a shared hallway.

Condos made up 15.0% of occupied dwellings in Canada in 2021, and 90.0% of them are in large cities.

If you rent. In Ontario, condo owners are to notify their corporation if they lease their unit.

If you buy. Owning means paying condo fees and your share of any shortfall in the reserve fund, through higher fees or a lump-sum payment. Whether owning beats renting depends on your numbers; the rent vs buy calculator compares them.

A condo or a house

How prices compare by home type in each major market is on the average house price page, from the local boards’ benchmarks.

What differs once you own:

• Monthly costs. A condo adds monthly fees that go to the upkeep of the common property, and part of them may go to a reserve fund for future repairs.
• Big repairs. In a condo, if the reserve fund can’t cover a major repair, every owner pays through higher fees or a lump sum.
• Rules. A condo comes with a declaration, bylaws and rules.
• Insurance. The corporation’s policy doesn’t cover a condo owner’s contents, improvements to the unit or liability.
• Qualifying. For an insured mortgage, CMHC counts 50% of condo fees in your debt service ratios. The affordability calculator works it out.

The carrying costs guide covers what condo fees pay for and how they rise.

Buying a condo

Buying a condo means buying a unit plus a share of a corporation, so check the corporation as carefully as the unit.

Before you make an offer, review the condo’s declaration, bylaws and rules. The declaration sets how the condo is organized and run, including the share each owner contributes to the common expenses. Make the offer conditional on a satisfactory review of the financial and legal documents: the operating budget, the financial statements and the status or estoppel certificate. If the reserve fund is underfunded and major repairs are due, you may face a big jump in your condo fees or a lump-sum payment.

The disclosure certificate by province:

• Ontario: the status certificate. In Ontario anyone can request a condo unit's status certificate, which sets out key information about the unit and the condo corporation; the corporation can charge up to $100, including taxes and materials, and must offer it at that price within 10 days (faster delivery can cost more). Buyers should review it with their lawyer. More on the Ontario first-time buyer guide.
• British Columbia: the Form B information certificate, due within 7 days of a request. A British Columbia strata can charge up to $35 plus 25 cents a page for copies. Since 2023 a British Columbia Form B also summarizes the strata’s insurance and electrical planning reports.
• Other provinces: what each certificate shows and how to read it is on the offer to purchase guide.

Financing. The mortgage works as it does for a house. The minimum down payment is 5% of the first $500,000 and 10% of the rest for homes under $1.5 million, and 20% at $1.5 million or more. The down payment calculator works it out for a price. For qualifying, CMHC counts part of the condo fees as a housing cost: Housing costs (principal, interest, property tax, heat and 50% of any condo fees) are no more than 39% of gross income. Keep paying the fees: they are neither optional nor negotiable, and many banks’ mortgages say an owner in default on condo fees is in default on the mortgage.

Insurance. The corporation’s policy doesn’t cover your contents, improvements to your unit or your liability. Make sure your own policy covers a chargeback of the corporation’s deductible, which can be $25,000 or more, and consider loss assessment coverage, which pays your share, up to a stated limit, of major losses on common property beyond the corporation’s policy limit.

New or resale. New condos are often covered by third-party new home warranty programs; in Ontario the developer must provide one. Financial institutions may not give you a mortgage on a condo that isn’t registered yet, and when you buy a new condo, be prepared to pay the developer occupancy fees, sometimes called phantom rent. The pre-construction guide covers deposits, occupancy and closing, and the home inspection guide what an inspection checks. First-time buyer programs are on the first-time buyer hub.

Guides in this section

Multi-unit and rental homes

• Buying a duplex, triplex or fourplex: what a duplex is, down payments by number of units, and qualifying with rental income.
• Rental property mortgages: financing a home you won’t live in, including short-term rentals.

Second homes and homes abroad

• Cottage and second home mortgages: down payment, seasonal properties, wells and septic, renting it out.
• Buying property in the US: cross-border financing, costs and tax.

Land, building and moving

• Buying land: land loans, checks before you buy, and province rules.
• Construction loans: draw mortgages, the cost to build, and building on your own land.
• Bridge financing: financing the gap between buying one home and selling another.

Other ways to own

• Modular, manufactured, mobile and tiny homes: mortgages vs chattel loans, and land-lease parks.
• Rent to own: how the agreements work, what they cost, and the risks.