19 JULY 2023
Strata levies paid by apartment owners are up by 15 to 20 per cent on average over the past year as the costs of insurance, utilities and repairs and maintenance outstrip even the rapid rise in general inflation.
Apartment owners are facing an increase in strata fees on top of rises in mortgage repayments.
Without any official source of strata levies, the evidence for rising levies is anecdotal, but Karen Stiles, executive director of the Owners Corporation Network, which represents residential strata owners, says increases of 20 per cent would have been typical for apartment owners over the past 12 months.
“What we are seeing is levies rising and sometimes going up 70 per cent or more in the second year of new buildings as developers do set levies low to entice people to buy,” Stiles says.
Insurance costs are rising because of the increase in replacement values, due to higher costs of skilled labour and building materials, as well as increasing risks from natural disasters, she says.
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