Unit vs Apartment
Unit and Apartment are two kinds of a dwelling with some differences between them. A unit is an individual dwelling place at the ground level with your own courtyard or garden.
An apartment on the other hand is two-storied or a higher residential building with your dwelling a part of the total residential area in the building. In other words the residential area in the building is shared by several families.
A unit is an individual house which involves no sharing of common space, whereas an apartment is a house that shares some common spaces with other dwellers too.
Another way of distinguishing an apartment from a unit is that an apartment is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. A unit on the other hand is a self-contained house that does not occupy part of any other building. In short it can be said that a unit is a separate building in itself.
An apartment is also called a flat whereas a unit is called a house. It is interesting to note that in some countries the term unit is used to refer to both apartments and some rental business suites as well. It is understood that in such cases the term is used only in the context of a particular building. Hence it can be concluded that while using the term ‘unit’ you tend to give more importance to the building.
On the other hand while using the term ‘apartment’ you don’t seem to give more importance to the building but you give importance to the self-contained house. A man who owns an entire apartment construction can lease every individual apartment, whereas a man who owns a unit can lease only the single building. We also see units converted to apartment buildings.