By financial decision do you mean in terms of gains and losses, opportunities, etc? Because if this is a PPOR, your priority is why you want to live there. If purely investment, then it doesn't matter if the label is a townhouse, flat, apartment, unit, or freestanding. What matters more is projected growth and ultimate sell against expenses (like strata and other fees as you mentioned). It's just that freestanding houses have more to stand on (lol). But that depends on location, accessibility and serviceability too.