Index › Reference
A–Z Glossary of Housing Terms
Every term below is defined in the wording of this index. Where a subject has its own page, the definition is a summary of it rather than a substitute.
AA
Absorption rate
The rate at which listed dwellings are taken off the market by buyers over a given period. Divided into inventory it produces months of supply.
Adjustable rate
A mortgage interest rate fixed for an initial period and then reset periodically against a published index plus a fixed margin, within stated caps.
Amortisation
The schedule by which a level loan payment is divided between interest and principal, with the principal share rising over the life of the loan.
Appraisal
A lender-commissioned opinion of a property's value, used to decide how much may be advanced against it. It is not the same as the contract price.
Assessment
The value placed on a property by a public authority for the purpose of levying property tax. It frequently differs from market value.
BB
Bungalow
A low, wide house of the early twentieth century with a broad porch, overhanging eaves and a compact plan. The dominant type across much of the city's south side.
CC
Closing
The meeting at which funds are disbursed, documents are signed and the deed is recorded, completing a transfer of ownership.
Closing costs
The one-off charges payable on completion, including lender fees, title work, recording fees and apportioned taxes.
Comparable
A recently sold property genuinely substitutable for the subject, used as evidence when estimating value.
Contingency
A condition written into a purchase contract allowing a party to withdraw if a stated event does not occur by a stated date.
DD
Days on market
The number of days a property has been publicly listed. A visible figure that later buyers read as a signal.
Deed
The instrument that transfers title in land from one party to another and is entered in the public record.
Dormer
A structure projecting from a sloping roof to carry a window, used to make attic space habitable.
EE
Earnest money
A deposit accompanying an offer, held by a third party and credited at closing, which demonstrates that the offer is serious.
Easement
A right held by another party to use part of a parcel for a stated purpose, such as access or utility lines. It survives a sale.
Encroachment
A structure that extends across a boundary onto adjoining land, typically discovered by survey.
Encumbrance
Any recorded claim or restriction limiting the interest being sold, including liens, easements and covenants.
Equity
The difference between what a property is worth and what is owed against it.
Escrow
The holding of funds or documents by a neutral third party pending completion of conditions; also the account from which taxes and insurance are paid.
FF
Fixed rate
A mortgage interest rate that does not change for the life of the loan, leaving rate risk with the lender.
Foursquare
A two-storey cubic house under a hipped roof with four principal rooms per floor, common in pre-war districts.
II
Inventory
The number of dwellings currently listed for sale in a defined market.
LL
Lien
A claim recorded against a property to secure a debt. A mortgage is voluntary; tax and judgment liens are not.
Listing
A property publicly offered for sale, and by extension the record describing it.
Lot
A parcel of land as defined on a recorded plat, with fixed dimensions that constrain what may be built.
MM
Months of supply
Inventory divided by the absorption rate: how long the listed stock would last at the current rate of sale.
Mortgage insurance
A charge protecting the lender against borrower default, commonly required where the deposit is small.
PP
Plat
The recorded map dividing a tract of land into numbered lots, streets and easements.
Points
A fee paid at closing, expressed as a percentage of the loan, to obtain a lower interest rate.
Principal
The sum borrowed, as distinct from the interest charged for borrowing it.
RR
Radon
A naturally occurring soil gas that can accumulate in enclosed lower levels; measured by a timed test rather than by visual inspection.
Redlining
The mid-twentieth-century practice of grading neighbourhoods by lending risk and withholding ordinary mortgage credit from those graded lowest, overwhelmingly where Black residents lived. Now unlawful; its effects on housing stock remain visible.
Restrictive covenant
A private rule recorded against land when it was subdivided, limiting what may be done with it. Racial covenants of this kind are void and unenforceable.
SS
Setback
The minimum distance a building must stand from a lot line.
Split-level
A post-war plan whose floors are offset by half a storey rather than stacked.
Survey
A measured examination establishing where the legal boundaries of a parcel lie and whether structures agree with the record.
TT
Title
The legal ownership of an interest in land, evidenced by the recorded chain of transfers.
Title insurance
A policy covering losses from defects in title that a search did not reveal. One policy protects the lender, a separate one the owner.
Title search
An examination of the public record for anything limiting the interest being sold.
UU
Underwriting
The lender's assessment of whether a borrower can repay and whether the security is adequate.
WW
Walk-through
A final inspection shortly before closing to confirm the property is in the agreed condition.