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by NotSammyHagar 2599 days ago
In Canada is an apartment what the us would call a condo or something similar?
2 comments

Canadians don’t differentiate between apartment and condo.

It was really weird moving to the states and have people care which word I used.

(Extra) Fun Fact: Canadians do differentiate (a lot) between University and College. Something Americans do not do.

Now I'm curious, what do they mean in America? As a Canadian I think both words describe a single unit in a multi-story building, but say "apartment" if the entire building is owned by one company and all units are rented, and "condo" if each unit is sold to an individual owner (who may still rent it out privately if they want). I rent an apartment, I'd buy a condo. They're physically the same thing, just different ownership models. Most Canadians I know (Vancouver/Calgary) do the same.
This is an accurate description of the difference.
Canadians differentiate between condos and apartments. at least, they do in every town/city I've lived/hung around in {Calgary, Victoria, Vancouver}
What I have encountered is that the word apartment is accepted for any residential unit while words that specifically relate to the nature of occupancy are not always used because that may be ambiguous. Is an apartment the only residential unit in the building? Is an apartment a condo, joint or fractional ownership, rental, or timeshare? All of these tend to be referred to casually as apartments unless more is known and needs to be communicated.