They say they don’t make them like they used to and that certainly seems to be the case when it comes to the price premium attached to historic properties.
Typically, our research shows that properties dating back to the Edwardian period and earlier sell for more than modern homes built today. For example, a property built before the Georgian era, which began in 1714, sells for an average of £851,830, which is 118% more than the typical 2020s new-build, which comes in at an average of £390,060.
Georgian homes, broadly dating from 1714 to 1837, are the second most valuable, selling over the past three years for an average of £686,620.
Edwardian houses, built between 1901 and 1910 during the reign of Edward VII, sell for £563,040. This is slightly more than the £488,420 average for those built during the reign of his mother, Queen Victoria, which ran from 1837 to 1901. The opposite is true for flats, however. Indeed, the Victorian era was when the most valuable flats and maisonettes were constructed.
Homes built during the 2000s sell for the lowest values on average, at £328,230, which is 16% cheaper than properties constructed in our current decade. This reflects the higher share of flats built in the 2000s, which typically sell for less.
When looking at the average £ per sq ft for property of different periods, the figures come out differently, and there is a 17% spread in £psf house values by era. Georgian properties have the highest price, at £531psf, followed by 2020s builds, at £511psf, and then 1920s-1930s properties (£507psf). This is because, to some extent, this adjusts for size differentials between different types of homes and shifts in the types of property being built – i.e., more smaller flats being constructed pushes up £psf values. Similarly, smaller homes built in the 1920s and 1990s push up average £psf prices.
However, when it comes to average home values, these figures aren’t simply a reflection of the age of the property alone. While buyers do indeed pay a premium for the style of architecture, higher values also reflect location, with the oldest architecture often found in prime town and city centre locations. For instance, London has the largest share of Victorian properties of any region, at 28.5%. This helps to explain why Victorian flats are so valuable, selling for an average of £425,520 over the past three years.
The most common property type by a large margin in all regions are homes built between the 1950s and 1980s. In this post-war period, architectural rules were quickly rewritten. Housing demand boomed and homes had to be built quickly and efficiently to keep up. In the process, many of the trimmings that added character to pre war buildings – from cornices to decorative mouldings – were set aside in favour of speed, practicality and, perhaps most importantly, lower costs.
Homes built in the 2020s still outprice properties built from the 1950s right through to the 2010s. This is because new-builds tend to come with a premium – they’re more energy efficient, lower maintenance and free from many of the age related issues found in older homes. There is also an argument that the quality of new homes has steadily improved over the last 20 years.
Also, post-WW2 properties aren’t yet old enough to have acquired the wholesale vintage appeal of pre war architecture – that said, some early post-war homes are starting to find favour in some urban quarters. Nevertheless, at the same time, they can’t compete with the performance and polish of new builds. As a result, they tend to sit at a slight discount relative to both ends of the spectrum.
