Condo fees and sale prices

Do higher condo fees hurt your selling price?  The short answer is yes.  The long answer is it depends.  I know of one condo where the fees have increased by 52% over the last 7 years, and meanwhile the other condos in the neighbourhood have only increased by 28%.  The prices in the building with the higher condo fees rose by 52.9% versus the neighbourhood average increase of 71.5%.   That translates into $28,500 less money for that seller over 7 years than a unit in another building.  The buyers are obviously factoring the condo fees into their monthly payment calculation and valuing the building accordingly. An extra $300 in condo fees per month is equivalent to roughly $60,000 more in a mortgage balance.  Sometimes a really low condo fee isn't a good thing though.  If the condo board is not putting enough money into the reserve fund, then the condo fee will need to jump substantially higher in the future.  Traditionally, the condo with the lower condo fee will sell for more money than another unit with the higher fee.  But, 5 or 10 years from now that situation could reverse as the condo fee needs to increase on the building with the artificially low condo fee.  Therefore what might be priced higher today, could be priced lower tomorrow.  The best answer is to have a professional look at your condo documents.  With your naked eye you can see what is in need of repair in a building sometimes, but a reserve fund study done by an engineering company is what should be relied on.  I hope this is helpful in explaining the impact of condo fees and sale prices.