This study covers 1,651 apartment sold episodes with valid positive fee amounts. It excludes condo townhouses so that two property categories do not drive the comparison. All fee bands use monthly condo fee amounts.
The unadjusted relationship
| Monthly condo fee | Sold episodes | Median sold price | Median reported days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500 | 355 | $345,000 | 37 |
| $500–$749.99 | 630 | $352,250 | 36 |
| $750–$999.99 | 440 | $390,000 | 35 |
| $1,000+ | 226 | $632,500 | 31 |
The highest-fee group also had a shorter median reported time than the lowest-fee group: 31 days versus 37. That is not evidence that increasing a fee would make a condo sell faster. Size, location, services, building characteristics and price positioning differ across the groups.
Compare more similar units
We compared units with reported fees of at least $750 against those below $750 within the same market area, approximate size range and above-grade bedroom count. This retained 244 higher-fee and 247 lower-fee episodes across 31 groups.
The weighted average within-group median-price difference was 2.6%, with the higher-fee side above the lower-fee side. The dollar difference averaged $4,074. Those are separately weighted summaries; one is not calculated by dividing the other by a single market-wide price.
The broad controls narrow the question but do not identify the fee's effect. We have not matched the same building, floor, view, parking, renovation standard, included utilities or reserve position. Adding approximate age left no eligible comparison groups under the minimum cell rule. We do not interpret the remaining difference as a valuation adjustment.
A cheap fee and a cheap purchase price are different questions
Ontario's condo authority describes fees as supporting common expenses and contributions toward future major work. The amount alone cannot tell this study whether a corporation is well funded. Source: CAO, Common Expenses.
A buyer comparing two units needs the actual recurring payment and inclusions alongside the purchase price and the corporation's financial information. This study has no verified special-assessment history or reserve-fund analysis. It cannot convert an extra dollar of fees into a universal reduction in property value.
The supported finding is that the raw data run against a simple high-fee discount story. Much of what appears in a fee-band comparison is also a comparison of the properties attached to those fees.
Source and methodology
Source: PropTx VOW, extracted September 19, 2026 (Toronto). Geography is the feed's CountyOrParish=Ottawa region; City labels are provider market areas and may contain several neighbourhoods. Purchase-contract dates assign sales to periods, not closing dates.
The annual four-category cohort contains 10,476 sold listing episodes, with 1,087 other residential records excluded. The categories are detached, freehold townhouse, apartment condominium and townhouse condominium; individual articles narrow the scope further. Records were paginated to provider counts, checked for duplicate episode keys and verified against saved SHA-256 fingerprints.
These are listing episodes visible in a dated feed, not independently verified totals for every Ottawa home. Relistings are not linked into unique properties. Sold-only findings do not measure the probability of selling. “Days” means the provider's reported DaysOnMarket; its detailed business rules remain unconfirmed. Each metric uses its own valid-value denominator. Medians and middle-half ranges use no outlier trimming.
The within-group comparison requires at least three episodes on each side of a group and at least 30 retained episodes on each side overall. Each group’s median-price difference is weighted by the smaller group count. Dollar and percentage differences are averaged separately. The $750 threshold and all fee bands refer to Canadian dollars per month, as confirmed by the project owner on September 14. Read our research standards for the Lab’s publication approach.
Study period: September 1, 2025–August 31, 2026. Source snapshot: September 19, 2026 (Toronto). Published September 27, 2026. All prices are Canadian dollars and condo fees are monthly.
Cite this article
New Purveyors Lab. “Do Ottawa condos with higher monthly fees sell for less?” Published September 27, 2026. Article link.