Digs & Dwellings: 5 Residential Property Types in the UK

Before investing in a residential property, it pays to have a good overview of the options out there in the market. Whether for individual use or as an investment, a property purchase should be well considered. Personal preferences play a role, but it is also important to be familiar with the market jargon in order to make an informed and sustainable decision.

In the UK, there are different housing types to consider, but they could be broken down into five main categories in terms of built and purpose. Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Apartments & Flats

The most common choice for singles, couples, and small families, a flat is usually rented within a building complex. Some flats have several rooms, while some – called studios – are just one open space with a restroom.

Naturally, flats are the most affordable residential option in the UK, and residents of flats in the same building share the hallways, staircases, the roof terrace, and the main building door. 

The term “apartment” is used more or less synonymous with “flat”, but there’s an actual difference between the two. While both are typically built within a larger building and house small households, the former can have multiple floors while the latter is a single-storey unit.

2. Terraced & End-Terrace Homes

Called “townhouses” in the US, terraced homes are usually vertical houses built side-by-side in a row that share walls with one another. Terraced homes have identical facades and heights, but each one has its own front door and is meant to be owned and occupied separately. Unlike apartment complexes, terraced houses do not have neighboring units above or below them. 

An end-terrace house is exactly what the name implies: it is the unit at the end of a row of terraced homes and is typically designed differently than the rest of its neighboring houses.

3. Duplexes

A duplex house is simply one that shares one wall section and a roof with another house. It is similar to a terraced home in that duplexes are constructed as one building, but are intended to have two separate occupying households with their own entrances, garages, and gardens.

Duplex houses are also commonly called “semi-detached” or “semi-attached” houses.

4. Detached Homes

Technically, a detached home is any residential property built as one structure physically separate from any neighbor. Detached homes typically come with a yard and a space for a garage. Most detached homes are two-storey buildings, but bungalows and cottages can be considered under this type, too. 

Understandably, detached homes are the most sought-after residential property type in the UK. Such houses are normally seen in sub-urban areas and the countryside, but some detached houses are also located in large urban cities where they are considered a luxury.

5. Mansions

Mansion houses, of course, are the most expensive residential property type on this list. The conventional real estate definition of a mansion is a home that offers at least five bedrooms and 5,000 square feet of space.

Built to exude opulence and grandeur, a typical mansion would also have a high-ceilinged foyer, a drawing room, a large dining room, and enough space outside the building for gardens, a courtyard, a pool, or a pond. 

Mansions are known to also come with outhouses for storage or sometimes for workers on the property to work or reside in, but it is meant to be occupied by a single – and wealthy – household.

Other Property Types

Cottages

Typically, cottages are just small, old-fashioned houses with lush gardens located in rural areas. They can have either one or two storeys and are usually rented out for summer getaways in the countryside. More and more cottages – or maybe more appropriately, cottage-style houses – have been springing up in cities though, and its appeal to travelers young and old has grown in recent years. 

Caravans

Caravans are homes that can be attached to a vehicle for mobility. Caravan dwellers normally change locations every so often but are also known to permanently live in the same spot.

While living in a caravan has been associated with limited means for a long time, this option, like cottages, has become a trend for a number of young households in the UK.