There is an assumption in property circles that the price of flats rises more slowly than houses and the larger the property is the greater the capital growth will be. Assumptions we hold dear should be challenged from time to time so I decided to have a look at whether this is true.
If this was the case I would expect detached property to have risen constantly at a higher rate than flats or terraced houses. Data on this is available from Land Registry so I decided to take a look. I would much prefer to make the information Hillingdon based but it doesn’t look like Land Reg goes to this local level – the fiends! Well in actual fact the data is there but the numbers don’t vary month to month so I don’t think it’s based on real information. So I looked at a national level.
These were the increases in England and Wales property prices I saw…
| Increases Over… | All Property | Detached | Semi’s | Terraced | Flats |
| 5 Years | 11% | 12% | 12% | 9% | 14% |
| 10 Years | 14% | 15% | 15% | 12% | 12% |
| 15 Years | 129% | 139% | 139% | 131% | 112% |
| 19 Years | 191% | 198% | 198% | 177% | 191% |
So to explain, over the last five years the average sold price of property has risen by 11%. Flats have increased by 14% and detached by 12%, terraced by 9%. So in that period, nationally, a flat would have risen in value more than a detached house. However over the longer term or 19 years, which is as far as Land Reg data goes back, house prices have risen by 191% with detached and semi’s rising by 198% and terraced by 177% and flats outperforming terraced which have consistantly nationally risen by less than flats.
What conclusions do we draw from this information?
I think making the right property investment in an area with a good positive story is more important than whether the property is a flat, terraced or detached.
Finally for the really high returns buy and hold property over the long term and choose your time to sell rather than it being forced upon you.
