Call me old fashioned, but I do like the terraced house. In fact, I have done some research that I hope you will find of interest!

In architectural terms, a terraced or townhouse is a style of housing in use since the late 1600’s in the UK, where a row of symmetrical/identical houses share their side walls. The first terraced houses were actually built by a French man, Monsieur Barbon around St. Paul’s Cathedral within the rebuilding process after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Interestingly, it was the French that invented the terraced house around 1610 in the Le Marais district of Paris with its planned squares and properties with identical facades. However, it was the 1730’s in the UK, that the terraced/townhouse came into its own in London and of course in Bath, with the impressive Royal Crescent.

However, we are in Walsall, not Bath, so....the majority of our Walsall terraced houses were built in the Victorian era. Built on the back of the Industrial Revolution, with people flooding into the towns and cities for work in Victorian times, the terraced house offered decent liveable accommodation away from the slums. An interesting fact is that the majority of Victorian Walsall terraced houses are based on standard design of a ‘posh’ front room, a back room, where the family lived day to day, and a scullery off that.  Off the scullery, a door to a rear yard, whilst upstairs, three bedrooms with the third straight off the second.

Interestingly, the law was changed in 1875 with the Public Health Act and each house had to have 108ft of liveable space per main room, running water, it’s own outside toilet and rear access to allow the toilet waste to be collected as they didn’t have public sewers in those days in Walsall – well not at least where these ‘workers’ terraced houses were built.

It was the 1960’s and 70’s where inside toilets and bathrooms were installed, often in that third bedroom or an extension off the scullery and gas central heating in the 1980’s and replacement UPVC double glazing ever since.

Looking at the make-up of all the properties in Walsall, some very interesting numbers appear.  Of the 107,822 properties in Walsall …

 

19,623 are Detached properties (18.2%)

45,393 are Semi-Detached properties (42.1%)

24,044 are Terraced properties (22.3%)

18, 653 are Flats/Apartments (17.3%)

 

 

 

When it comes to values, the average price paid for a Walsall terraced house in 1995 was £33,487 and the latest set of figures released by the land Registry states that today that figure stands at £123,817, a rise of 269% – that’s not bad at all is it?

However, a lot of buy-to-let landlords and first time buyers I speak to think the Victorian terraced house is expensive to maintain.  I recently read a report from English Heritage that stated maintaining a typical Victorian terraced house over thirty years is around sixty percent cheaper than building and maintaining a modern house – which is quite fascinating don’t you think!

Don’t dismiss the humble terraced house – especially in Walsall!  They can make great investment properties and are often the first step on the property ladder for many buyers. Stick to the good areas and make it look great and the humble terrace will stand you in good stead!

For any more insights into the Walsall property market, sign up to my blog by clicking the follow button (if you are seeing this article in the actual blog) or at www.walsallpropertyblog.com.  Alternatively you can call me on 07877 031584.

Email:info@ashmorelettings.co.uk