What is Residential?

Residential property is any building or unit zoned and purposed as living space. It’s one of two general categories of real estate, the other being commercial property. Residential property is usually owner-occupied, but not necessarily. By real estate industry convention, any properties with fewer than five units — none of which are for commercial use — are classified as residential. Larger properties and those with mixed residential and commercial use, then, qualify as commercial. The iconic example is the single-family home. Definitions differ but, generally speaking, it is building containing one dwelling unit, detached from all other structures, with open space on all sides.