How Much Are Strata Fees, and What Do They Cover?

The short answer

Strata fees (also called body corporate fees or owners corporation fees) on an Australian apartment typically run $3,000-$8,000 per year for a standard unit, or roughly $750-$2,000 per quarter. Buildings with lifts, pools, gyms or concierge can exceed $10,000-$15,000 a year. They cover shared-building costs: insurance, common-area maintenance, utilities for shared spaces, and a savings pool for major future works. As a rough guide, fees often land around 0.3%-1.2% of the property's value annually.

What strata fees actually pay for

When you buy an apartment, townhouse or villa in a strata scheme, you own your lot but share the building's common property: the roof, lobby, lifts, gardens, driveways and external walls. Strata levies fund the upkeep of all of it, split across owners. They're usually divided into two funds:

• Administrative fund (the "everyday" fund) covers recurrent running costs: building insurance, cleaning, gardening, common-area electricity and water, pest control, management fees and admin. According to NSW Government, this fund handles the day-to-day expenses of the scheme.
• Capital works fund (formerly the "sinking fund") is a savings pool for big, infrequent jobs: repainting the exterior, replacing the roof, upgrading lifts, resurfacing the car park. Schemes must keep a 10-year plan so reserves are ready when these costs land.

On top of regular levies, an owners corporation can strike a special levy, a one-off charge for when the capital works fund can't cover an urgent or major job such as remediating defects or replacing a lift.

What drives the cost

Your share is set by unit entitlement, your lot's proportional share of the scheme. The NSW Government gives the example of a small apartment with an entitlement of 10 versus a larger one at 15: the larger lot pays more. Fees climb with shared amenities (lifts, pools, gyms, security), building age, insurance costs and the number of lots sharing the bill.

Terminology differs by state but the concept is the same: NSW, WA and ACT use strata levies; Queensland uses body corporate fees (administrative + sinking fund); Victoria uses owners corporation fees.

Worked example

Say you're buying an $800,000 two-bedroom apartment in a mid-rise building with a lift and a small garden but no pool. A realistic strata bill might look like this:

Fund	Per quarter	Per year
Administrative fund	$1,100	$4,400
Capital works fund	$500	$2,000
Total strata	$1,600	$6,400

That $6,400/year sits on top of your mortgage. To see the full picture, layer in the loan. With a $640,000 loan (20% deposit) at 6% over 30 years, the monthly principal-and-interest repayment is about $3,837, roughly $46,040/year. Add strata ($6,400), council rates ($1,800), water ($1,000) and contents insurance (~$600), and your true annual cost of ownership is closer to $55,840, about $4,650/month rather than the $3,837 the loan repayment alone suggests.

Note that building insurance is usually inside your strata fee for an apartment, so you generally don't pay a separate home-building policy the way a house owner would. You only insure your contents.

Model this in True Loan

True Loan lets you fold strata into the real cost of an apartment, not just the loan repayment:

1. Enter your property price ($800,000) and loan amount ($640,000), then set the rate (6%) and term (30 years) to get the repayment.
2. In Ongoing costs, set Strata to your quarterly or annual figure (e.g. $6,400/year), plus council rates, water and insurance.
3. True Loan also calculates your upfront costs: deposit, stamp duty for your state (with first-home-buyer concessions), LMI if your deposit is under 20%, plus conveyancing and registration. That way you see total funds needed at settlement.
4. Use the comparison tool to put a low-strata house beside a high-strata apartment at the same price and see which is genuinely cheaper to hold year on year.

If you're weighing an apartment against a house, the strata line can flip the maths. See the full ongoing costs of owning a home per year and your total upfront cost as a first-home buyer. Sorting your deposit first also tells you whether LMI is in play.

Common questions and mistakes

Are strata fees tax-deductible? For an owner-occupier, no. For an investment property they're generally deductible, though special levies for capital works may be treated differently. Check moneysmart.gov.au and the ATO.

Do lenders count strata fees? Yes. Banks include strata in your living/serviceability expenses, so high fees can reduce how much you can borrow.

Can fees go up? Yes. Owners vote on levies each year, and a special levy can arrive without warning if the capital works fund is short. Always check the scheme's financials and 10-year plan before buying.

The biggest mistake: comparing an apartment and a house on repayment alone. A $6,400/year strata bill is the equivalent of roughly $100,000 of extra loan at 6%, so it deserves a line in your budget.

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Figures are estimates for the 2025-26 financial year and vary by building and state, so check your strata scheme's records and official sources such as your state government and moneysmart.gov.au. This is general information, not financial advice.