Condo vs Condominium vs Strata: What They Actually Mean

"Condo," "condominium," and "strata" sound like three kinds of housing. They're not. All three describe one legal idea: you own your unit outright and share everything else with your neighbours.

Alberta calls that structure a condominium. British Columbia calls the identical structure a strata. The distinction matters before you sign anything, since it changes what you own and what your fees actually cover.

Condominium Is an Ownership Structure, Not a Building Type

"Condo" is shorthand for condominium, and nothing legal changes when you drop the last five letters. To define a condo simply: it is a unit you own outright, inside a building or complex where you also own a share of everything else. A condominium describes how title is split, not the shape of the building, and CMHC's own guide puts it plainly: a condominium is "a form of legal ownership, as opposed to a style of construction."

In Alberta, that works through the Condominium Property Act, RSA 2000 c C-22. Every unit on a registered plan gets its own certificate of title, same as a detached house. Everything outside your unit's walls, the hallways, roof, and parking lot, is common property held by every owner as tenants in common.

Condo vs Apartment: Why People Mix Them Up

An apartment is a floor plan: a self-contained unit rented from one landlord who owns the whole building. A condo can look identical from the hallway, but the difference is who holds title. One owner holds every unit in a rental apartment, while a condominium gives each unit its own owner and its own title. That is why plenty of rented apartments are not condos, and plenty of condos are not apartments at all.

Nationally, CMHC lists low-rise apartments, townhouse and rowhouse complexes, stacked townhouses, duplexes, and single-detached houses among the forms that operate as condominiums. Bare land condos go furthest: owners hold title to a parcel of land, not a unit inside a structure, and anything they build on it becomes part of their unit. You will see this on newer Edmonton-area subdivisions, where roads stay common property but each home sits on its own titled lot.

Garage setups vary across these condo forms too, so check the garage types common across Canada before assuming what comes with your unit.

What Condo Fees Actually Buy: Unit Factors

Every unit in an Alberta condominium plan carries a unit factor, assigned when the plan is registered. Unit factors set your share of the common property (section 6(2) of the Act) and your share of fee contributions (section 39(1)(a)(i) of the Act), and always total exactly 10,000 across the plan, per section 6 of the Condominium Property Regulation, Alta Reg 168/2000. A unit with a factor of 500 owns 5% of the common property and pays 5% of the costs, which is why a bigger top-floor unit usually pays more than a smaller one downstairs.

Some boards grant exclusive use of common property, like a parking stall, through bylaws under section 50 of the Act. That access is not part of your title and can be withdrawn under its own terms. See how parking actually gets allocated in Alberta condos before assuming a spot is permanently yours.

Strata: What British Columbia Calls the Same Idea

BC's legislation skips the word condominium and uses strata, under the Strata Property Act, but the concepts match Alberta's closely. A strata lot is the individually owned unit, and common property is everything outside any strata lot, owned collectively in shares set by unit entitlement, BC's version of Alberta's unit factor. BC even has its own exclusive-use category, called limited common property, for an assigned deck or parking stall. Compare a listing in Edmonton to one in Kelowna, and "condo" and "strata" name the same legal setup.

Condo vs Freehold: What You Are Actually Buying

Freehold means you own the building and land outright, with no corporation and no shared fees. A condominium means you own your unit plus a proportional share of everything else, in exchange for a lower entry price and shared maintenance.

Edmonton's numbers show that trade-off in practice. As of July 2026, live MLS data counts 5,123 active condo listings across the city, with a median list price of $245,634, well below a comparable freehold home nearby. Search active condo listings in Edmonton or check recently sold condos across the Edmonton area to see what buyers are actually paying.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the condominium meaning in simple terms? An ownership structure where you hold title to your unit and share everything else, like hallways, the roof, and the land, with the other owners.

Is a condo the same as an apartment? Not exactly. An apartment is a floor plan inside a rental building owned by one landlord. A condo is an ownership type, with its own owner and title, whatever it looks like.

What does strata mean compared to condominium? Strata is British Columbia's term, under the Strata Property Act, for the structure Alberta calls a condominium. A strata lot works the same way as an Alberta condo unit.

How are Alberta condo fees calculated? By unit factors, assigned when the condominium plan is registered. Unit factors for a plan always total 10,000, and each owner's fee share matches their unit's share of that total.

Can a house be a condominium? Yes. Bare land condominiums give owners title to land rather than a unit inside a building, and single-detached houses can also be registered as condominiums in Alberta.

Ready to see what condo ownership looks like in Edmonton? Search active listings or talk to a REALTOR® about buying your first condo.

Sources: Condominium Property Act, RSA 2000 c C-22 (Alberta King's Printer); Condominium Property Regulation, Alta Reg 168/2000; CMHC Condominium Buyer's Guide; BC Strata Property Act, SBC 1998 c 43.