An apartment is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
The term "apartment" is favored in North America, whereas the term "flat" is sometimes, but not exclusively, used in the United Kingdom and most other English-speaking areas and Commonwealth nations. In Malaysian English, "flat" often denotes a housing block of lesser quality meant for lower-income groups, while "apartment" is more generic and may also include luxury condominiums.
Some apartment-dwellers own their own apartments, either as co-ops, in which the residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment connotes a residential unit or section in a building. In some locations, particularly the United States, the word denotes a rental unit owned by the building owner, and is not typically used for a condominium.
