Usually yes where it is owned fee simple with the lot under it, which lenders, appraisers and county assessors treat as an attached single-family home inside a planned unit development, and no where the recorded declaration makes it a condominium unit; the deed decides it, not the shape of the building.
Two definitions are fighting here. In ordinary speech a single-family home means a detached house on its own lot, and by that test no townhouse qualifies. In the definitions that actually cost money, the ones lenders, appraisers, assessors and insurers use, a single-family home means one dwelling for one household, and attached or detached is a separate question answered separately. A townhouse is a single dwelling for one household, so under the second test it usually is one.
Attached is not the same question as single-family
The classifications that matter break a home down twice. First, how many dwellings are in the structure: one is single-family, two to four is a small multifamily building, five or more is commercial. Second, whether the structure touches another: detached, or attached by a shared wall. A townhouse is one dwelling, so it clears the first test, and it is attached, so it is described as an attached single-family home.
That is why a townhouse and a duplex sit in different categories even though both are one building with walls in common. The duplex holds two dwellings under one title. A row of six townhouses holds six dwellings, and where each sits on its own lot with its own deed, each is a separate single-family property that happens to share side walls.
The recorded declaration is what decides
Every attached community in Nevada is a common-interest community under NRS chapter 116, and the declaration recorded against it says which kind. A condominium (NRS 116.027) designates part of the real estate for separate ownership and the rest for common ownership by all the unit owners, so the buyer owns the airspace of the unit and an undivided share of the ground, the roof and the structure. A planned community (NRS 116.075) is defined as everything that is not a condominium or a cooperative, and in one of those the buyer owns the lot and the building on it outright, with the association owning or managing the private streets, the entry and the shared landscaping.
Identical-looking buildings go both ways, sometimes on the same street. The developer chose when the project was recorded, and the choice is not visible from the sidewalk. It is visible on the deed and in the declaration.
Who classifies it, and what turns on it
The agencies, and through them nearly every conventional lender, treat a fee-simple townhouse in a planned unit development as a single-family property: it is appraised on the standard residential form, and there is no project review of the association's budget, reserves, owner-occupancy share or litigation. A townhouse held as a condominium is appraised on the condominium form and the project has to pass that review, which is a real difference in how long the loan takes and in which buildings are financeable at all.
The assessor classifies it by what the parcel is. A townhouse on its own lot gets a parcel number with land and improvement value on it and is taxed like a house; a condominium unit gets a parcel number too, but the land under the building is carried in common. The insurer follows the same line: a fee-simple townhouse is written on a homeowners policy covering the whole structure, a condominium unit on a unit-owners policy covering the interior.
How to check on the parcel record
This takes about five minutes and it is worth doing before making an offer rather than during escrow, because the answer changes the loan, the insurance quote and the dues.
- Pull the parcel on the county record and read the property description: a condominium unit is usually described as a unit within a named project, a lot in a planned community as a lot within a recorded subdivision map.
- Look at whether land value is stated separately on the parcel. A fee-simple townhouse carries its own land value; a condominium unit commonly does not.
- Read the first page of the recorded declaration. It says whether it creates a condominium or a planned community, and it is a public record.
- Check the deed you would receive. A lot and block description is a planned community; a unit number with an undivided percentage interest is a condominium.
- Read the insurance summary in the resale package, which describes the building the master policy covers and by implication what it does not.
Questions people ask
Does a townhouse count as a single family home for a mortgage?
A fee-simple townhouse in a planned unit development is underwritten as an attached single-family home, with no project review. A townhouse held as a condominium is underwritten as a condo, and the project itself has to qualify before the loan can close.
Do you own the land under a townhouse?
In a planned community you own the lot under the building and the small yard or patio that goes with it. In a townhouse sold as a condominium you own an undivided share of all the land in the project instead, held in common with every other owner.
Is a townhouse considered attached or detached?
Attached, because it shares at least one wall with the home next door. That is recorded separately from how many dwellings the structure holds, which is why an attached home can still be classified as single-family.