Financial Statements
Understand financial statements in Canadian real estate; why they're key for evaluating condos and investment properties before purchase.
June 16, 2025
What are Financial Statements?
Financial statements are formal records of the financial performance and position of a condominium corporation or investment property, typically reviewed by buyers, lenders, or investors.
Why Financial Statements Matters in Real Estate
In Canadian real estate, financial statements help assess the fiscal health of a condo corporation or income-generating property.
Key components often include:
- Balance sheet (assets, liabilities, reserve fund)
- Income statement (revenue from fees vs. expenses)
- Annual budget and variances
- Auditor’s notes or financial disclosures
For condo buyers, strong financials suggest a well-managed building with adequate reserves. For investors, they provide a snapshot of rental income, operating costs, and profitability.
Understanding financial statements is critical for due diligence and long-term planning in property ownership.
Example of Financial Statements in Action
Before making an offer, the buyer’s agent requests the condo’s financial statements to ensure the reserve fund is sufficient for upcoming capital repairs.
Key Takeaways
- Reveal financial health of a property or condo
- Include income, expenses, assets, and reserves
- Required for condo sales and financing
- Help identify risk of special assessments
- Reviewed by buyers and lenders
National average resale-price growth and housing-starts growth, smoothed over three months. The comparison illustrates the cycle; it does not establish how much a price change causes construction to change.
Trailing 12-month starts in centres of 50,000 or more remove the usual monthly seasonality. Ownership combines the homeowner and condominium categories; rental is shown separately.
Six-month averages of provincial starts, expressed at annual rates. The smoothing reduces the influence of individual apartment projects.
The same August benchmark compared with two different starting points. Three-month changes are not annualized.
Average sale prices show the difference in purchase costs across markets. They do not measure affordability relative to local incomes or construction costs.
Newfoundland and Labrador remains above its pre-pandemic sales pattern, but August activity was below last year. Historical lines retain their original release vintages.
Average and median describe different aspects of the same month’s transactions. Both are affected by the mix of homes sold.
Category averages compare different homes and locations; the gaps are not estimates of the cost to upgrade an otherwise identical property.
The five categories shown account for 5,000 of the board’s 5,057 sales. The remaining 57 transactions were in other housing categories.
Monthly observations are not seasonally adjusted. Active listings count properties available at month-end; they are not construction inventory.
Average and median prices share one dollar axis. These unadjusted transaction measures do not control for changes in the homes sold.
TRREB’s 416/905 categories compare the apartments sold in each area. The difference does not isolate a location premium for equivalent units.
5680 Oak Street in Vancouver and its surrounding context. (MCMP Architects)
Ground-level renderings of the tower proposed for 5680 Oak Street in Vancouver. (MCMP Architects)
