The size of an apartment or house can be described in square feet or meters. In the United States this includes the area of living space, excluding the garage and other non-living spaces. The square meters figure of a house in Europe reports the area of the walls enclosing the home, and thus includes any attached garage and non-living spaces.

It can also be described more roughly by the number of rooms. A studio apartment has a single bedroom with no living room possibly a separate kitchen. A one-bedroom apartment has a living or dining room, separate from the bedroom. Two bedroom, three bedroom, and larger units are also common. A bedroom is defined as a room with a closet for clothes storage.See List of house types for a complete listing of housing types and layouts, real estate trends for shifts in the market and house or home for more general information.

In recent years, many economists have recognized that the lack of effective real estate laws can be a significant barrier to investment in many developing countries. In most societies, rich or poor, a significant fraction of the total wealth is in the form of land and buildings.In most advanced economies, the main source of capital used by individuals and small companies to purchase and improve land and buildings is mortgage loans or other instruments). These are loans for which the real property itself constitutes collateral. Banks are willing to make such loans at favorable rates in large part because, if the borrower does not make payments, the lender can foreclose by filing a court action which allows them take back the property and sell it to get their money back. For investors, profitability can be enhanced by using an off plan or pre-construction strategy to purchase at a lower price which is often the case in the pre-construction phase of development.for the parties, although they may "coordinate" these activities with the appropriate specialists. Some real estate brokers may be associated with loan officers who may help to finance buyers to make their purchase.Regardless of whether a real estate agent assists sellers or buyers of real estate, negotiation and financing skills are important.In addition to the services to sellers and buyers described below, most real estate agents coordinate various aspects of the closing.Lenders typically have other requirements, though, for a loan.