WSJ Examines an Age-Old Question: Condo or Townhouse?

• September 9th 2009

by Mark Wellborn

Instead of our usual Ask an Agent feature this week, we decided to look at a piece from The Wall Street Journal that examines a frequent quandry for homebuyers in major cities: Should I buy a condo or townhouse?

A common misconception about condos is that their monthly fees and lower resale potential generally make townhomes a better investment. However, the article provides practical information regarding the appreciation of one property type versus another that dispells this generally held belief:

“As for building equity, I’ve often heard real estate agents say that townhouses appreciate faster than apartment-style condos over time. But that’s hard to prove, because data-gatherers aren’t consistent in how they report townhouse sales and prices. Some group them with condos because owners share costs for at least some common elements; others with single-family homes because they more closely resemble them architecturally. The National Association of Realtors puts townhouses in the single-family group.”

However, perhaps the more important point that the article makes is that with the number of homebuyers both young and old coming into the market, “the pool of potential buyers” will be large for either property type regardless of when you sell.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/wsj_examines_an_age_old_question_condo_or_townhouse/1291.