Terraced homes top for national home buyer demand – city and county results revealed

February 26, 2020

The latest research by estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has revealed which property type proved to be the most popular home purchase over the last year and how it differs across major cities and each county/district of England and Wales.

Get Agent crunched property sale records from the Land Registry for 2019 and looked at which type of property was most popular, accounting for the highest proportion of total sales in each area.

The data shows that terraced homes top the list with 29.4% of all transactions, closely followed by semi-detached properties with 29%. Detached homes accounted for 24.4% of sales, while flats proved the least popular nationally with just 17.3% of transactions.

Major Cities

Terraced houses proved popular for those living in major cities as well, accounting for the most transactions in 13 out of 20 major cities, with Portsmouth home to the highest percentage of terraced house transactions at 58%.

In Oxford, popularity is tied between semi-detached homes and terraced houses, both accounting for 33% of transactions.

Semi-detached homes proved the outright most popular in Swansea, Sheffield and Leeds, while homebuyers in Bournemouth, London and Southampton had a greater preference for flats.

County Level

At county and district level, detached homes proved the most popular across 34 locations with Ceredigion home to the highest number of detached transactions as a percentage of all transactions at 51%. Terraced homes accounted for the highest percentage of sales in 16 locations, proving the most popular in Blaenau Gwent (65%), followed by semi-detached homes in 14 areas with South Yorkshire and Port Talbot home to the highest percentage of sales (40%)

Again, flats were the most popular in just London, although Berkshire did also see flats tie with terraced homes as the most popular property purchase.

Detached and semi-detached homes tied for popularity in both the East Riding of Yorkshire and Staffordshire, while Berkshire and Northumberland saw semi-detached and terraced homes come out top for popularity amongst home buyers.

Founder and CEO of Get Agent, Colby Short, commented: 

“The terraced house tops the table for home buyer popularity for a few reasons. First of all it offers more space at a more reasonable price point to a semi-detached or detached home and is the logical ‘next step’ for home buyers looking to put down stronger roots when advancing from a flat.

It also allows housebuilders to provide more stock in new developments with the space they have to build on and so this heightened level of supply hitting the market for the first time also increases the number of sales for this property type.

Finally, while it does offer more space, those moving into semi-detached or detached homes tend to do so for the long haul, whilst those moving into a terraced house may well move a few years down the line for reasons such as a growing family or moving from the city outwards.

Of course, there are some big regional differences and some counties offer more detached homes, while city living also leans more towards flats and terraced homes. ”

Major Cities – Top Line Figures
Most Popular Property Type
No of Cities
Terraced
13
Flat
3
Semi-Detached
3
Semi-Detached & Terraced
1
Counties & Districts of England & Wales – Top Line Figures
Most Popular Property Type
No of Counties
Detached
34
Terraced
16
Semi-Detached
14
Detached & Semi-Detached
2
Semi-Detached & Terraced
2
Flat
1
Most popular house purchase by property type in 20 major cities in England and Wales
City
D
F
S
T
Most Popular Property
London
5%
52%
15%
28%
F
Bournemouth
35%
43%
13%
9%
F
Southampton
15%
33%
25%
26%
F
Leeds
16%
15%
38%
31%
S
Sheffield
15%
16%
37%
32%
S
Swansea
24%
8%
34%
33%
S
Portsmouth
3%
27%
12%
58%
T
Liverpool
6%
27%
22%
45%
T
Leicester
11%
13%
32%
44%
T
Plymouth
12%
17%
28%
43%
T
Bristol
5%
31%
22%
41%
T
Norwich
11%
31%
18%
41%
T
Newport
23%
9%
29%
38%
T
Cambridge
14%
28%
21%
37%
T
Cardiff
14%
24%
26%
37%
T
Birmingham
9%
22%
32%
37%
T
Nottingham
15%
20%
29%
37%
T
Manchester
4%
33%
27%
36%
T
Newcastle
14%
22%
29%
34%
T
Oxford
9%
24%
33%
33%
S/T
England and Wales
24.4%
17.3%
29.0%
29.4%
T
Most popular house purchase by property type in each county/district of England and Wales
Row Labels
D
F
S
T
Most Popular Property
Ceredigion
51%
5%
23%
21%
D
Powys
48%
3%
23%
26%
D
Isle of Anglesey
48%
5%
19%
29%
D
Monmouthshire
47%
6%
26%
21%
D
Lincolnshire
46%
4%
28%
22%
D
Rutland
44%
12%
24%
20%
D
Pembrokeshire
44%
7%
24%
26%
D
Denbighshire
43%
4%
35%
18%
D
Herefordshire
42%
8%
27%
22%
D
Flintshire
42%
3%
38%
18%
D
Norfolk
41%
9%
25%
24%
D
Shropshire
41%
8%
30%
21%
D
Carmarthenshire
40%
2%
32%
26%
D
Dorset
39%
17%
20%
24%
D
Cambridgeshire
39%
9%
27%
25%
D
Leicestershire
39%
5%
36%
21%
D
Wiltshire
38%
11%
27%
25%
D
Nottinghamshire
37%
6%
36%
22%
D
Cornwall
36%
11%
23%
30%
D
Conwy
36%
14%
32%
18%
D
Worcestershire
35%
10%
31%
24%
D
Devon
35%
13%
22%
30%
D
Suffolk
35%
9%
28%
28%
D
Isle of Wight
34%
20%
27%
19%
D
Oxfordshire
33%
14%
29%
24%
D
North Yorkshire
33%
10%
30%
27%
D
Buckinghamshire
33%
18%
29%
20%
D
Hampshire
33%
17%
25%
25%
D
Somerset
32%
10%
28%
30%
D
Northamptonshire
32%
8%
31%
29%
D
Essex
31%
17%
29%
23%
D
East Sussex
30%
24%
24%
22%
D
Surrey
30%
23%
28%
18%
D
West Sussex
29%
23%
25%
23%
D
East Riding of Yorkshire
35%
7%
35%
24%
D/S
Staffordshire
35%
7%
35%
23%
D/S
Greater London
5%
52%
15%
28%
F
South Yorkshire
22%
8%
40%
29%
S
Neath Port Talbot
22%
2%
40%
36%
S
Bridgend
28%
4%
37%
31%
S
West Yorkshire
19%
10%
36%
35%
S
West Midlands
14%
16%
36%
34%
S
Wrexham
33%
7%
36%
24%
S
Derbyshire
34%
5%
36%
26%
S
Merseyside
14%
16%
36%
34%
S
Cheshire
29%
8%
35%
29%
S
Swansea
24%
8%
34%
33%
S
Tyne and Wear
15%
16%
34%
35%
S
Bedfordshire
23%
16%
33%
27%
S
Warwickshire
31%
11%
33%
25%
S
Gloucestershire
30%
14%
31%
26%
S
Berkshire
24%
26%
25%
26%
S/T
Northumberland
30%
8%
31%
31%
S/T
Blaenau Gwent
12%
2%
21%
65%
T
Rhondda Cynon Taff
14%
2%
24%
60%
T
Merthyr Tydfil
17%
1%
24%
59%
T
Torfaen
23%
4%
26%
48%
T
Caerphilly
17%
2%
37%
43%
T
County Durham
24%
3%
31%
43%
T
City of Bristol
5%
31%
22%
41%
T
Gwynedd
33%
5%
21%
40%
T
Newport
23%
9%
29%
38%
T
Cardiff
14%
24%
26%
37%
T
Lancashire
24%
7%
33%
36%
T
Cumbria
27%
7%
30%
36%
T
Greater Manchester
14%
17%
34%
35%
T
The Vale of Glamorgan
27%
12%
26%
35%
T
Hertfordshire
19%
26%
24%
31%
T
Kent
24%
17%
28%
30%
T
England and Wales
24.4%
17.3%
29.0%
29.4%
T

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