The semi-detached house with its bay
windows and net curtains has long been ridiculed as an emblem of safe, lacklustre
and desperately uncool suburban life; the homes of the likes of Hyacinth Bucket in
Keeping up Appearances and more latterly Alan Partridge – but they could have the last laugh - having enjoyed the highest price
growth of any property type in Warminster, up by an average 311% increase in
the last twenty years.
The semi can now laugh in the face of its posher detached counterpart,
which saw a rise of only 86% in the same 20-year period. Looking at smaller
properties, flats/apartments rose 225%, whilst terraced houses only rose 181%
(although they were starting from a lower base and demand from buy to let
landlords has had a big part in driving the values on that type of house (i.e. the price a buy to let landlord is
prepared to pay is driven by the rent the landlord can achieve).
In 1996 the average value of a Warminster semi
stood at £55,100,
today it stands at £226,100
Such is the attractiveness of semis, which are cheaper than
detached houses but have most of the same benefits for families. Semi-detached
houses were built in their hundreds of thousands by the Victorians and
Edwardians between the wars and through to the present day. Interestingly in
the late 19th Century and early 20th century – they often
weren’t referred to as semi-detached – but as villas!
So whilst Europeans live on top of
each other in apartments us British chose, in the late Victorian and early
Edwardian times, suburban comfort, being near … but not too near, the
neighbours! I once heard someone say the semi-detached house was a peculiar
crossbreed that doesn’t stand on its own — it is inseparable from its neighbour
— yet somehow still embodies a dream of suburban independence.
Over one in three houses in Warminster
is a semi-detached house
There are 2,648 semi-detached properties in Warminster and they
represent 35.19% of all the households in Warminster. Warminster has such a mix
of semi-detached properties with the older semis to more modern ones built in the last couple of decades.
Especially with the older ones, the semi offered a hall to provided separation
between the reception rooms and privacy for their occupants. Also the
downstairs offered larger rooms to accommodate dining tables, whilst upstairs,
bedrooms were smaller, yet cosy.
However, probably the most overlooked aspect of popularity for
semis is the garden. The front garden, designed to separate the house from the
world, and the back garden designed for private relaxation. The semi in the
suburbs was relaxing, well presented, plumbed and enhanced by a garden so that
when a window was opened the air had a chance of being genuinely fresh… and it’s
for all those reasons why 54 semi-detached houses have been sold in Warminster
in the last 12 months alone. Still as
popular today as they were with the Victorians all those years ago – some things
just stand the test of time!
