Would you pay more for an end of terrace house vs mid terrace?

[fearlesswhisper]

For context, this is a typical South London 3 bed house Victorian. Long street of approximately 120 houses. Would you pay extra for an end of terrace with slightly more privacy?

If it helps, these are 3 bed houses that usually go for approx £850k.

Depends how much you want the house then really.
I should add, we're mid terrace with rear access, double garage and big garden so, as with most things, take everything into consideration - including what you can and cannot control, eg. the 2 or 3 gardens that you butt up to could be owned by party animals who barbecue every night and have their own bar and disco outdoors - and you've payed 50k extra for the experience.
There's an element of luck in any house purchase.

We are buying and end terrace at the moment. It's quite a lot more than the rest of the terrace, but has a bigger garden, side access and an extra bedroom (plus I think it's the only one with an upstairs bathroom).

If you're only just looking, it's worth checking the deeds on the Lamd Registry. I did this before we offered - obviously it would have come up eventually with the searches but we wanted to know in advance.

We knew we wouldn't own the side access passage way (it is part of the property on the perpendicular road, but is only used by "our" house). But it was good to see there was a proper recorded easement, plus another through next doors passageway and back garden, and most importantly that none of the other houses in the terrace had access to it garden.

We paid what we would have paid for a similar semi - we wouldn't have looked at a mid terrace.

No sorry I wouldn't pay 25k for the privilege of a side wall I can't access for maintenance. If there was side access then yes.

But is the £25k a premium because it's end of terrace or is it an extra £25k because the prices are generally increasing ? Or more modern ? Or larger rooms etc ?

Yes end of terrace has a premium - it's a pretty easy one really if you got offered both at the same price you would pick the end - that's why it's worth more

@gottakeeponmovin

Yes end of terrace has a premium - it's a pretty easy one really if you got offered both at the same price you would pick the end - that's why it's worth more

It's usually worth more (mainly) because of side access though. That's missing here.

@Ohshitiveturnedintomymother

Yes, BUT not if it had right of access to the neighbours as I wouldn’t want people walking through my garden.

Very good point indeed. Check if there are any easements giving your neighbours a right of way over your back garden.

Yep I think it's worth £25k more

We preferred end of terrace over mid terrace purely because it’s one fewer potentially noisy neighbour. Just check the neighbours don’t have right of access through your garden.

Yes, unless the middle terraces had right of access across my back garden. Then I'd not want the house at all.

Yes lived in a mid and now in an end. Will never live in a mid again

Yes I would

Yes. I'm buying end of terrace and my reasons are: one neighbour, the garden ends at side of next row of houses street so no overlooking; ease of access for loft and ground floor extension.

@fearlesswhisper

very interesting views!

it's a strange one as it's located in a grid of houses, so the side of the house backs onto someone else's garden, and the back of the garden backs onto the back of the garden of another house. So no real security issue, but as mentioned, no side access either.

The real beauty of being surrounded by the end of other houses gardens is that it's not really overlooked, so feels very private. And again, the benefit of only one direct neighbour and les of that claustrophobic feeling you can get with narrow terraces (4.5m) all positioned so closely together.

So something like this? In that case, even though there is no additional bonus of having a larger garden or side access, the garden will indeed be more usable and private as you said, without worrying about security issue.

Plus, an end-terrarce is practically a semi-detached with one less neighbour. Supply of end-terraced house (only 2 per row!) is limited and semi-detached property is always significantly more expensive, especially in SW London. It's a good form of compromise if you can't afford the semi-detached equivalent in your area.

For an additional 3% premium, I would say definitely go for it.

Ah ok I see about the grid. In that case you don’t have the security/litter issues from having your garden wall up against the pavement that many end terraces have.

Which side is the hallway/stairs and which side are the bedrooms? Worth more if the bedrooms are on the non attached side

Yes.

Yes absolutely would and did. We live in a 5 storey Georgian house and are very fortunate our neighbours is also still a single house but others in our street are 5 flats now, if yours is similar you could be reducing the risk of having another x no on of neighbours one side by opting for end of terrace. £25k is a very reasonable uplift for less potential noise and bother.

Yes definitely

Yes

@LovelyOnion

Yes - something like that indeed.

@minipie

Ah ok I see about the grid. In that case you don’t have the security/litter issues from having your garden wall up against the pavement that many end terraces have.

Which side is the hallway/stairs and which side are the bedrooms? Worth more if the bedrooms are on the non attached side

Stairs are on the attached side, bedrooms on the non attached side!

When we viewed, it just felt very quiet and very private. With working from home, really appreciate the peace!

Yes I think £25k difference is quite modest given the house price and a semi is always better than a terraced in terms of only having one party wall so half the chance of associated issues.

If I couldn't afford the same house with side access where I was looking, for 3%, yes I would. But I'd pay a lot more for side access.

There's soo little for sale/been sold around here that there's not a direct comparable house, but I discounted one the other day as it didn't have back/side access.

But it sounds like YOU would get enough out of the 3% to make it worth 3% more for YOU.

I have seen some end terraces described in sales particular as ‘semi detached’. I think that isn’t actually true, but it shows that they are more desirable.

Yes, a wall that doesn’t join another house might make the house colder....but on that basis detached houses would be worth less still and no-one thinks that.

Greater privacy from no adjoining neighbours on one side is a good thing. A garden won’t be smaller but could well be a bit wider than that of the mid-terrace and as people mention, the side access that comes with most is valuable. An end Terrace without the side access isn’t as good as a semi in my book, but the lack of adjoining neighbours still counts for something.

The reason is shouldn’t be described as a semi and isn’t as good as one, is structurally it’s not the same, but part if a much longer building made up of multiple houses. For example, the lofts can often be pretty poorly separated. Lots have mentioned the issue of how others get to their gardens. Even without shared side access or access across your actual back garden, the mid terraces must access their gardens somehow and often there is a path running along the back gardens which removes some degree of privacy.

In the end, each house needs to be priced individually. In your area there will be mid terraces worth more than semis. This will be because of size and location etc. We all make compromises to get what we most value when house hunting. You have to decide how much you value the benefits of being an end Terrace over the extra price or what other features you could get in a mid Terrace. Perhaps you’d get a larger or better condition mid Terrace for the same money. Do you value that extra space or better condition more, or the extra privacy from not adjoining?

If its halls together and bedrooms/lounge on the exterior wall it would be worth every extra penny to me as it allows you more freedom regarding your own family noise and far less chance of disruptive noise from you one neighbour.