Hello. Imagine that you are trying to buy an apartment for yourself. Would you choose a high-rise building that has, say, 25 or more floors, or a midrise building that has only 5 storeys.

Personally, I always thought the shorter building was better in terms of strata fees. I figure that if the building has only a few levels, then the maintenance and upkeep shouldn't be too bad. Whereas for a building that has 20+ floors the upkeep should be higher and this shows as a higher monthly strata fee.

Anyway I would love your thoughts. What is your preference?

This post was edited by JessiWan on May 10 2023 01:27pm

Strata fees are more going to be dictated by the size of units and amenities offered, not how high the building is. More units, more ways to split costs resulting in lower strata fees, bigger units = fewer units and higher strata fees since It's less to spread over. Then there are other items that will drive cost such as in-house gyms, pools, squash courts, hot tubs, pool table rooms, etc. etc. Are you expecting to use them, would the increase in cost be offset by cancelling your gym or club membership elsewhere, etc.

This post was edited by SBD on May 10 2023 01:48pm

Cabin in woods > ee

Thanks for your analysis.

Another question: do you feel that a high-rise building, lets say one with 20 floors, is inherently less safe than a lower building? I have always had a huge preference for low or mid-rise buildings because I feel that its easier to evacuate if there is a fire. My studio apartment is on the 3rd floor of a 20 floor high rise building, which isn't very high up but it still worries me a little. I keep thinking whether to resell it and then purchase a unit that's located in a bona-fide short building.

Maybe in the 60’s and 70’s but now one wouldn’t be safer then the others.

mid-rise, I don't like heights

ideally I would live in a house in the burbs though

The maintenance and additional fees is going to be offset by the additional units. There will be more maintenance but theres more people paying in. I'm a full time real estate investor and the maintenance scales with each properties usage. More people more maintenance but also spread amongst more people.

Larger buildings are cheaper to operate and more efficient to provide services for until you get so large that the building itself needs to be specially designed to deal with the height.

Suburbs are only good to live in if you really like driving 30 minutes to go 2 miles.