One of the first things Realtors are taught when pricing a property is to look at comparable sales.

Find something nearby. Find something similar. See what it sold for. Then use that sale to help establish the value of the property you're pricing.

There's nothing wrong with doing that.

The problem is when that's all you do.

After 25 years in real estate, I've learned that pricing a property—particularly in a market like Squamish—requires looking at it from several different directions. Sometimes there simply isn't a genuinely comparable recent sale.

And even when there is, that sale is only one piece of information.

Squamish Properties Aren't Always Easy to Compare

Squamish can make conventional comparable analysis difficult.

Two houses may have roughly the same square footage and be relatively close to one another, but that doesn't necessarily make them equivalent.

One may back onto green space.

One may have a substantially better view.

One may have been renovated.

One may have a suite or different development potential.

The street itself can make a difference.

Then there's the timing of the sale.

A property that sold in a stronger market isn't necessarily worth the same amount today simply because the house hasn't changed. Conversely, an older sale shouldn't automatically be discarded if you have a reasonable way of understanding how the market has moved since that transaction.

That's why I don't think the answer is simply to find the closest house that sold and price accordingly.

I Look at Value From Several Different Directions

I'm an analytical person by nature, and that's carried into the way I price real estate.

A comparable market analysis is one tool, but there are other data points that can help establish a range of value.

I may consider broader market price trends, including information from the MLS Home Price Index. I look at when previous transactions occurred and what the market was doing at that point. BC Assessment information can provide another reference point. Then there are the characteristics of the property itself and what's happening in the market today.

The MLS Home Price Index is useful in this context because it's designed to track residential price trends using benchmark properties and their attributes rather than simply relying on an average sale price.

BC Assessment can also provide useful information, but it needs context. Your 2026 assessment, for example, reflects an estimate of the property's market value as of July 1, 2025—not necessarily what a buyer would pay today. BC Assessment itself notes that an assessment can differ from a current real-estate valuation for exactly this reason.

Interestingly, BC Assessment also recognizes the need to account for changing market conditions between a property's sale date and the date at which you're trying to establish value.

That's essentially the point: the number isn't useful without understanding what produced the number.

Then You Have to Price the Property Itself

Once I've established a baseline, I still have to account for the actual property.

This is where automated valuations and overly simplistic comparable analyses can struggle.

What's the view worth?

What does backing onto green space contribute?

What improvements have actually added value?

Is the layout particularly desirable—or awkward?

How does the location compare?

Are there attributes buyers are placing a premium on in the current market?

Not every renovation returns what the owner spent on it. Not every view is valued equally. And something buyers were willing to pay a premium for three years ago may carry a different premium today.

You have to interpret those characteristics within the market you're actually selling into.

My Stock-Market Analogy

I've traded stocks for years, and there's a similarity in the way I think about the two.

An investor doesn't normally determine what a company is worth from one number.

You might consider earnings, expected growth, valuation multiples, financial conditions, market liquidity and the broader trend. Different indicators tell you different things.

Real estate isn't the stock market, obviously.

But the analytical principle is useful.

Why would I determine the value of a house from one neighbouring sale if several other pieces of information are available?

I'd rather approach the property from several directions and see whether those different approaches start pointing toward the same range.

We Typically Show Our Clients Four Pricing Analyses

This is where our pricing process becomes somewhat proprietary, so I'm not going to publish every calculation we use.

But I can explain the principle.

When we're presenting pricing to a seller, we typically approach the property's value through four different pricing analyses.

Sometimes one result is an outlier.

That's useful information in itself.

But when three of the four approaches independently start pointing toward approximately the same range, my confidence in that range becomes considerably stronger.

And when all four converge, that's a very compelling signal.

The objective isn't to find four different ways to justify the price the seller wants.

It's the opposite.

We're trying to challenge our own assumptions about the property's value.

Pricing Is a Range Before It Becomes a List Price

There's also an important distinction between value and list price.

The analysis might tell us the property belongs within a particular value range.

But the exact price at which we take it to market can depend on current conditions.

Are buyers aggressive or patient?

Is inventory building?

What's the competition?

Are similar listings receiving offers?

Is the market trending upward, sideways or downward?

Those factors influence how we position the property within—or sometimes strategically around—the range we've established.

That's particularly important in a softer market, where being slightly on the wrong side of the market can mean sitting while buyers move on to the next property.

Experience Still Matters

Data is incredibly useful, but it doesn't eliminate judgment.

After 25 years of doing this, I've seen properties through very different markets and I've learned to look for relationships between the numbers rather than relying on a single number.

It's also not unusual for other Realtors to phone me and ask what I think about the price of a property.

I take that as a compliment.

But more importantly, it reinforces something I've believed for a long time:

Pricing isn't about finding the nearest comparable and copying its sale price.

It's about assembling the available evidence, understanding the market in which each piece of evidence was created, accounting for the characteristics buyers will actually value, and then seeing where the different approaches converge.

That's how you can price a Squamish property even when the perfect comparable doesn't exist.

And in reality, the perfect comparable rarely does.

If I had to describe the Squamish real estate market right now in one word, I'd call it soft.

Buyers have more control. Inventory is relatively high. Properties are taking longer to sell. And probably the biggest challenge I'm seeing isn't simply a lack of buyers—it's a fairly significant gap between what sellers expect to receive and what buyers believe they should pay.

That can make this feel like a frustrating market.

But I don't think that necessarily makes it a bad market.

It's a market that has to be navigated carefully.

The Biggest Problem Is the Gap Between Buyers and Sellers

I'm seeing sellers who still expect their properties to achieve prices based on what they were worth in a stronger market.

At the same time, some buyers recognize that conditions have softened and go too far in the opposite direction. They assume that because buyers have negotiating power, they should be making offers substantially below asking price.

Then nothing happens.

The seller thinks the buyer's offer is unreasonable.

The buyer thinks the seller hasn't accepted that the market has changed.

And the two sides never get close enough to put a deal together.

But when you have a reasonable buyer and a seller who understands where the market is today, we're still putting deals together.

That's an important distinction.

Pricing Is Critical—But That Doesn't Mean Giving Your Property Away

I've talked recently about why I think sellers need to be very careful about pricing in a declining or softening market.

But there's some nuance to that.

If the last comparable property sold at a certain price, I think there's a strong argument in this market for positioning the next property slightly below that sale.

The key word is slightly.

Go too high and buyers may simply wait.

Go unnecessarily low and you may leave money on the table.

The skill is figuring out where that price needs to be to make buyers pay attention.

We've seen situations where properties positioned below the previous comparable sale—or below where buyers perceive current market value—generate considerably more interest and can even end up with multiple offers.

That's telling us something important.

The buyers haven't all disappeared.

They're being patient.

And they're very sensitive to value.

Condos, Townhouses and Detached Homes Aren't Behaving the Same Way

Another thing that's easy to miss when people talk about “the Squamish market” is that we don't really have one market.

Condos can be behaving one way, townhouses another and detached houses differently again.

We've had a significant amount of townhouse and condo inventory available, and those properties have generally been taking longer to sell than we're accustomed to.

Detached homes have their own challenges. One thing I'm noticing is how important secondary-suite potential has become. In the transactions and buyer activity I'm seeing, homes with suites are getting considerably more attention because buyers are looking closely at the economics of carrying a detached home.

Even the higher end of the market—which can sometimes feel somewhat insulated from shorter-term swings—is being affected.

So simply saying, “Squamish prices are up” or “Squamish prices are down” doesn't tell you enough.

You need to know what's happening with the particular type of property you're buying or selling.

Some Sellers Are Choosing Not to Sell

There's another piece of this market that the basic sales numbers don't necessarily capture.

Some sellers aren't getting the price they want, so they're taking their properties off the market and renting them instead.

That matters.

A property disappearing from the MLS doesn't necessarily mean somebody bought it. And an unsold listing doesn't necessarily mean the owner has to keep reducing the price until somebody takes it.

Sometimes the seller has another option.

That can remove inventory, but it can also make interpreting the market more complicated.

Why I Think Vancouver Matters—But Doesn't Tell the Whole Squamish Story

I've always looked at Vancouver as one of the indicators for what may eventually happen here, but Squamish doesn't mirror Vancouver perfectly.

My experience has generally been that we can lag what is happening in Vancouver.

That's partly because of where a significant portion of our buyers come from.

When Vancouver homeowners can sell successfully and come to Squamish with substantial equity, that supports our market.

When they're having difficulty selling—or they sell for less than they expected—there are fewer of those buyers coming north, and the ones who do come may have less purchasing power.

That's one reason I think we're now feeling some of the effects of the weakness we've seen in the broader market.

But I wouldn't use a Vancouver headline to decide what your Squamish property is worth.

You still have to look at Squamish.

And more specifically, you have to look at the segment of the Squamish market you're actually in.

The Timing Isn't Particularly Helpful

One concern I have is the time of year.

We're heading toward fall and then winter, which is typically a quieter period in Squamish real estate.

A small market pullback heading into a seasonally slower period creates a different challenge than the same pullback heading into a strong spring market.

I think some sellers may be tempted to explain what's happening purely as seasonal:

“It's August.”

“People are away.”

“Things will pick up in the fall.”

There can certainly be seasonal effects.

But I don't think seasonality explains everything we're seeing right now.

There is a market-driven issue here as well.

What the Numbers Don't Show: There Are Still Buyers Out There

This may be the most interesting part of the market to me.

I think there are actually quite a few buyers out there.

They're just patient.

They don't feel an enormous amount of pressure to buy today because they can see the inventory, they know properties are sitting longer, and they believe they may have another opportunity tomorrow.

That changes buyer behaviour.

It also helps explain why pricing correctly can suddenly create so much activity.

If a well-positioned property comes along and those patient buyers collectively recognize the value, several of them can move at once.

That's when you can still see multiple offers in what otherwise looks like a slow market.

Buyers Have Leverage, But That Doesn't Mean Every Low Offer Will Work

Buyers absolutely have negotiating power right now.

But there's a difference between negotiating power and simply submitting an extremely low offer.

If a seller isn't under pressure to sell, an offer far below what they believe is reasonable may accomplish nothing.

That's where understanding the individual property and the individual seller becomes important.

How long has the property been listed?

What have comparable properties actually sold for?

Has the price already been reduced?

What other options does the seller have?

And what price would represent good value for the buyer without making it impossible to get the seller to the table?

Those questions matter more than simply saying, “It's a buyer's market, so offer low.”

I'm Watching February

Everybody wants to know what happens next.

Are prices going lower?

Does activity pick up?

Does this turn out to be a temporary soft patch?

I don't think we know yet.

One of the periods I'll be watching particularly closely is February.

That's when we typically start seeing a meaningful influx of new listings. Those new listings give us another opportunity to see how much buyer demand is actually waiting on the sidelines.

If new inventory arrives and buyers engage with it, we may start seeing transactions increase and get a clearer picture of the market's direction.

If inventory arrives and buyers remain patient, that's telling us something different.

Until then, I think it's dangerous to be overly confident about exactly where the market is headed.

This Isn't a Bad Market. It's a Market That Requires Precision.

That's probably the most important thing I'd leave people with.

If you're selling, don't panic and don't simply give your property away.

But don't price it based on what you wish the market still was.

Understand the recent sales, understand your competition and work out where your property needs to be positioned to make today's buyers respond.

And if you're buying, recognize that you have more negotiating power—but don't confuse that with assuming every seller will accept an unrealistic offer.

There's still a market here.

There are still buyers.

There are still sellers.

And there are still good transactions being put together.

Right now, the challenge is getting both sides to recognize where the market actually is.

We’re into August, and I think we’ve reached a point in the Squamish real estate market where sellers need to have a very realistic and very honest conversation about price.

This is not a panic article. I’m not predicting that Squamish real estate is suddenly going to fall 10%, and I’m certainly not suggesting everyone needs to rush out and sell.

But if you are trying to sell your property right now, the market is telling us something pretty clearly:

Buyers are no longer willing to automatically step up and pay yesterday’s prices.

And sellers who recognize that early are going to put themselves in a much better position than sellers who spend the next three or four months chasing the market down.

The Data Is Starting to Tell a Story

I’ve talked before about the probability index I use when looking at the direction of the Squamish market. The most recent reading suggested roughly a 67–70% probability of downward pressure on prices.

But I'm also seeing it in the underlying market data.

Days on market are increasing.

What's particularly interesting is how they're increasing. We're not seeing a sudden spike followed by a drop. We're seeing a gradual increase as properties stay on the market longer and longer.

Why?

Part of the problem is that sellers naturally remember what their property might have been worth six months ago. They see another home listed for a certain price and think:

"Well, if they're asking that, mine must be worth this."

But an asking price isn't a market value.

What somebody lists their home for doesn't matter nearly as much as what comparable properties are actually selling for.

And right now, sale prices have been coming down across the different segments of the Squamish market, including detached homes, townhouses and apartments.

One Number I'm Watching Closely

Another important indicator is the percentage of original asking price that sellers ultimately receive.

Historically, receiving somewhere around 98–99% of asking price has been fairly normal in our market.

Recently, that number has dropped considerably. Our latest reading was approximately 96.3%.

That may not sound dramatic, but from a market perspective it's significant.

When properties consistently sell several percentage points below asking price, those sales become the comparables for the next group of sellers.

Then those lower sales become the new benchmark.

That's how downward pressure can gradually work its way through a real estate market.

We saw the sale-to-original-price relationship reach approximately 100% in February 2026, and we saw something similar around June 2024 before the market subsequently softened.

I'll be watching this number particularly closely through August because I think there's a reasonable possibility it moves lower again.

Stop Comparing Your Home to Other Asking Prices

If you're selling right now, one of the most important things you can do is sit down with your Realtor and really study your competition.

And I mean really study it.

I'd probably start by looking at everything approximately $100,000 below and $100,000 above where you think your property should sell.

Don't just glance at the MLS sheet.

Look at the photos.

Look at the renovations.

Look at the floor plan.

Look at the location.

Look at the view.

If it's a townhouse or condo, where is it positioned within the complex? Is it an end unit? What's the exposure? What's outside the windows? What's the parking situation? Does it have outdoor space?

Then compare those properties to the ones that have actually sold.

That's where the real information is.

Now Pretend You Don't Own Your Home

This is probably one of the hardest exercises for a seller, but I think it's incredibly valuable.

Pretend you're the buyer.

Take your property and the best comparable property available and put them side by side.

If you were coming up from Vancouver to buy a home in Squamish, which one would you choose?

What would you like better about the other property?

What would you like better about yours?

Now imagine you're downsizing. Does your answer change?

Imagine you're a young family upsizing into your next home. Does it change again?

Try to remove your emotional connection to the property and look at it the way those buyers will.

Because ultimately they're the ones determining the value.

You might genuinely believe your home should be worth $1.3 million. But if buyers consistently choose a comparable property at $1.2 million, the market is giving you some pretty important information.

Don't Chase a Falling Market

This is probably the biggest message I want sellers to take away from this.

In a rising market, being slightly overpriced can sometimes be forgiven because the market eventually catches up with you.

In a softening market, the opposite can happen.

You list too high.

You don't get the activity you expected.

You wait.

Then you reduce the price.

But during that time, another comparable property sells lower.

So you reduce again.

And suddenly you're chasing the market instead of getting ahead of it.

That can become particularly important as we move toward fall and winter.

There's a seasonal component to the Squamish market. Buyers don't disappear in the winter, but activity can slow, and if your property has already accumulated significant days on market, you're potentially entering that quieter period from a weaker position.

That's why getting the price right at the beginning matters so much right now.

Spend the Time Before You Choose the Price

If you're thinking about selling, don't settle for a five-minute conversation about what your home is worth.

Spend an hour.

Maybe spend two.

Go through the competing listings and recent sales property by property and understand exactly where your home fits.

At Team Hudson Squamish, we're happy to spend that time with our sellers because I think pricing correctly from the beginning is one of the most important things we can do for a client in this type of market.

There will still be homes that sell quickly.

There will still be properties that attract multiple interested buyers.

And there will absolutely still be good sales.

But increasingly, those successful sellers are going to be the ones who understand where the market is today rather than where it was six months ago.

If you're selling in Squamish right now, don't panic.

Just be realistic, study the competition, listen to what the buyers are telling you, and put yourself in a position to succeed.

This morning reminded me of something I think we sometimes take for granted when we live in Squamish.

I get up pretty early most mornings, work out, and usually get outside for a walk. Today my workout called for a longer walk or a run, so I decided to go for a run along the dike in Valleycliffe.

And somewhere along the way, I found myself thinking: this is ridiculous.

Not ridiculous in a bad way. Ridiculous in the sense that I was running through scenery that people travel halfway around the world to experience, and it was about two minutes from my front door.

That got me thinking about something I see all the time in real estate.

When people are looking at homes in Squamish, they often become very focused on choosing the "right" neighbourhood. Brackendale has this. Valleycliffe has that. The Highlands has something else. Downtown gives you something completely different.

But after living in different parts of Squamish over the years, I've realized there is another side to it.

Every neighbourhood seems to have its own little secrets.

And once you discover them, you tend to fall in love with wherever you happen to live.

This Morning in Valleycliffe

If you live in Valleycliffe, you can be down at the river and dike system in minutes.

This morning I was running along the dike with the Chief towering above everything, the river beside me, people walking dogs, riding bikes and running, and everybody just seemed happy to be there.

Along the river there are all these little spots where you can get down to the water. Some are little swimming holes. Some are shallow areas where you can sit in the water on a hot summer day. Some people use them for a quick cold plunge.

And you're sitting there in a river looking up at the Chief.

It's pretty hard to beat.

There isn't one giant parking lot announcing that you've arrived at some major attraction. There are different access points and places to park throughout the area, and that's part of what makes it feel different. It still feels like something the neighbourhood gets to enjoy rather than a big tourist destination.

Keep going and you're suddenly connected to mountain bike trails and kilometres of forest. You can go for a serious ride, take the dog for a walk, run the trails or just disappear into the woods for half an hour.

Yet you're still right beside a residential neighbourhood.

That combination is pretty special.

Then I Started Thinking About Brackendale

I lived in Brackendale for years, and it has its own version of exactly the same thing.

Judd Beach and Fisherman's Park are incredible.

There are stretches along the river where you're walking on what feels like a white sand beach. You've got the river beside you, mountains surrounding you, the breeze coming through the valley and people swimming, walking dogs, playing with their kids or just sitting beside the water.

From there, you can make a great loop using the dike and trail system. You can walk for 40 or 50 minutes in one direction, come back another way and barely feel like you've been in a town at all.

When you live there, it's literally outside your back door.

And that's the funny thing about Squamish. These aren't necessarily places you put on an itinerary.

They're just where you go after dinner.

Garibaldi Estates Has Its Own Version

The Estates feels completely different again.

There are walking trails accessible from both sides of the neighbourhood, including the trails around the Squamish Valley Golf Course.

You can wander along relatively easy, open trails beside the golf course, through forest and alongside waterways where you can see salmon spawning at the right time of year.

You can keep going and eventually connect through the trail network toward the Adventure Centre and other parts of town.

There are sections along the river where the landscape changes completely. The water has carved into the banks and you find yourself looking down toward a much wider stretch of river below.

It's beautiful.

And once again, you can access all of this from a neighbourhood where somebody might simply think, "I'm buying a house near the golf course."

There's much more there once you start exploring.

Even Downtown Has a Wilderness Escape

Downtown Squamish obviously gives you something different.

You've got shops, restaurants and everything happening downtown, but then you head toward the waterfront and suddenly you're watching kiteboarders out on the water with the mountains surrounding Howe Sound.

And right beside that is another one of my favourite little surprises: the Squamish Estuary.

You can access the Estuary trails from around the waterfront and Sp'akw'us Feather Park area, and within minutes the town seems to disappear.

You're walking through wetlands and forest with birds and wildlife around you, yet downtown is basically right behind you.

That's what I mean when I talk about these hidden gems.

They're not necessarily hidden because nobody knows about them. They're hidden because you don't always realize how much is there until you actually live nearby and start exploring.

And Then There Are the Highlands

Garibaldi Highlands might have more trail access than you could explore in years.

There are trails heading off in seemingly every direction, from easy forest walks to some of the mountain biking that has helped make Squamish famous.

Then there's Ring Creek.

Calling it a creek almost seems misleading in places because of the amount of water that can move through it. It's beautiful, wild and powerful.

There are places people access the water, although this is definitely one where you need to respect the current, water levels and conditions. It isn't the same gentle swimming-hole experience you can find in some other parts of town.

But again, imagine having all of that a few minutes from home.

Maybe There Isn't a "Best" Neighbourhood in Squamish

That's really what occurred to me on my run this morning.

I've been selling real estate in Squamish for more than 25 years, and buyers understandably spend a lot of time trying to figure out which neighbourhood they want to live in.

And neighbourhood matters.

Schools matter. Commute matters. Sun exposure matters. Lot size matters. Walkability matters. The style and price of homes matter.

But I think sometimes we put too much pressure on finding the one perfect neighbourhood.

Because Squamish has this strange ability to make you fall in love with wherever you end up.

Maybe you wanted Brackendale but found the right house in Valleycliffe.

Maybe you thought you had to be in the Highlands and ended up in the Estates.

Maybe you never imagined yourself living Downtown until you realized you could walk out your door, grab a coffee and be wandering through the Estuary a few minutes later.

You start exploring.

You find your trail.

You find your swimming hole.

You find your favourite stretch of river.

You figure out where you like to walk the dog, where you go for a run, where you take the kids, where you sit beside the water when it's 30 degrees outside, or where you go when you've had a long day and just want half an hour in the woods.

And eventually those places become part of what "home" means.

That's the Squamish Part You Can't Really Put on an MLS Listing

We can put square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms and lot size on a listing.

We can tell you a home is close to trails.

But it's hard to explain what it feels like to walk two minutes from your house and suddenly be beside a river, surrounded by mountains, with people swimming and dogs running around and the Chief filling half the sky.

You have to experience it.

And the longer I live here, the more I realize those experiences aren't confined to one special part of Squamish.

They're everywhere.

Every neighbourhood has something.

Some of it is well known. Some of it is still a bit of a local secret. And some of it you don't discover until you've lived there for a while.

Maybe that's one of the best things about living in Squamish.

You don't necessarily have to find the perfect neighbourhood.

Sometimes you find the right home.

And then the neighbourhood shows you why you're going to love living there.

When buyers start looking at condos and townhouses in Squamish, one of the first things they compare is the monthly strata fee.

It’s understandable. If one townhouse has a strata fee of $325 per month and another similar one is $575 per month, it seems obvious that the lower fee is the better value.

In reality, that’s often not the case.

After more than 25 years helping buyers and sellers in Squamish, I’ve learned that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming lower strata fees mean lower ownership costs. In many cases, they simply mean you’re paying less today and potentially much more tomorrow.

First, What Exactly Are Strata Fees?

If you’re new to buying a condo or townhouse, here’s a quick explanation.

Most attached homes in British Columbia belong to a strata corporation. Every owner contributes a monthly strata fee (sometimes called a maintenance fee) that helps cover the ongoing costs of operating and maintaining the property.

These fees typically pay for things such as:

• Building insurance (not your personal contents insurance)

• Landscaping

• Snow removal

• Exterior maintenance

• Roofing and siding repairs

• Common area cleaning and lighting

• Garbage and recycling services

• Professional strata management

• Contributions to the Contingency Reserve Fund

Some developments also include amenities such as gyms, clubhouses, elevators, guest suites or amenity buildings, which naturally increase operating costs.

Every strata is different, but the principle is the same: everyone contributes toward maintaining the property over the long term.

Here’s What Most Buyers Don’t Realize

Regardless of whether a strata charges low fees or high fees, it costs roughly the same amount to maintain a similar building.

Yes, there are differences.

Older buildings generally require more maintenance than newer ones. The type of exterior cladding, roofing materials, elevators, underground parking and amenities all affect operating costs.

But when you’re comparing similar properties in Squamish, there is usually a fairly predictable range that strata fees eventually settle into.

Based on what I’ve seen across our local market, a reasonable expectation is approximately:

• One-bedroom condo: around $380 to $390 per month

• Two-bedroom condo: around $470 to $480 per month

• Three-bedroom townhouse: around $550 to $600 per month

Another way to estimate costs is by square footage.

In Squamish, many developments tend to fall roughly within these ranges:

• Condos: approximately $0.50 to $0.55 per square foot per month

• Townhouses: approximately $0.30 to $0.35 per square foot per month

These aren’t hard rules, but they’re useful benchmarks when evaluating a property.

Low Strata Fees Can Be Misleading

Imagine you’re buying a newer three-bedroom townhouse.

The monthly strata fee is only $250.

It feels like a bargain.

But ask yourself this:

Is it really costing only $250 per month to maintain the roads, landscaping, insurance, roofing, siding, management, reserve fund and everything else?

Probably not.

More often than not, those lower fees simply mean the strata hasn’t built up enough money yet.

Understanding the Contingency Reserve Fund

Part of every strata fee goes into what’s called the Contingency Reserve Fund (CRF).

Think of it as the building’s long-term savings account.

It’s there to pay for major repairs and replacements over time, including things like:

• Roof replacement

• Exterior repairs

• Siding replacement

• Common area upgrades

• Unexpected major maintenance

If the reserve fund has enough money, these projects can often be completed without asking owners for additional funds.

But if the reserve fund falls short, owners receive what’s known as a special levy.

The Surprise Nobody Wants

Let’s say your strata has only $150,000 saved.

Then the roof needs replacing and the project costs $400,000.

That extra $250,000 has to come from somewhere.

The result?

Every owner might suddenly receive a bill for several thousand dollars.

I’ve seen special levies ranging from a couple thousand dollars to well over $10,000 per owner depending on the project.

Nobody enjoys getting that letter in the mail.

My Recommendation

This is the advice I give many of my own clients.

Don’t budget based on what today’s strata fee happens to be.

Budget based on what the property is likely to cost over the long term.

For example:

If you’re buying a three-bedroom townhouse with a $250 monthly strata fee, but similar properties generally average around $575 per month, continue budgeting as though your monthly cost is $575.

Pay the actual $250 to the strata.

Then automatically transfer the remaining $325 into your own savings account every month.

Now you’ve created your own reserve fund.

If a $6,000 special levy arrives two or three years later, you’ll likely have the money waiting.

If nothing happens?

Fantastic.

You now have a healthy savings account that can go toward your next home, renovations, moving costs or simply increasing your financial security.

It’s a win either way.

What If Your Strata Fees Are Already High?

Higher strata fees aren’t necessarily bad.

In many cases, they’re a sign that the strata is properly funding maintenance and planning ahead.

I’d still recommend putting aside another 8% to 10% of your monthly strata payment into a dedicated home maintenance savings account.

You may never need it.

But if something unexpected happens, you’ll be prepared instead of scrambling.

The Bottom Line

One of the biggest financial mistakes buyers make is choosing a property simply because the monthly strata fee is lower.

A lower fee doesn’t automatically mean lower ownership costs.

In many cases, it simply delays those costs until later.

Instead of focusing on today’s monthly payment, think about what the property is likely to cost over the years you own it.

Budget for the long term.

Save the difference if your fees are unusually low.

Keep a small maintenance reserve even if your fees are already high.

Doing that won’t just protect you from unpleasant surprises. It will make homeownership less stressful, more predictable and far easier to manage financially.

That’s one of the smartest habits any strata owner can develop.