im thinking about renting an apartment, aka a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building
I guess that could have it's pros and cons
apartments for rent. A high-rise apartment building is commonly referred to as a "residential tower", "apartment tower", or "block of flats" in Australia.
A high-rise building is defined by its height differently in various jurisdictions. It may be only residential, in which case it might also be called a tower block, or it might include other functions such as hotel, offices, or shops. There is no clear difference between a tower block and a skyscraper, although a building
Apartment
An apartment (American English), flat (British English) or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies only part of a building, generally on a single storey. There are many names for these overall buildings, see below. The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium (strata title or commonhold), to tenants renting from a private landlord