There is little in residential real estate as versatile as the townhouse.
It can be a first home or a last home. It can be small and affordable or pricey and as large as a detached residence.
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Townhouses attract young professional men and women at the start of a career, divorced or widowed people and retirees looking for freedom from maintenance chores and enough space to store a lifetime of memories.
“Townhouses are the missing link,” said Noelle Barbone, office manager of Weichert, Realtors, in West Chester, who began selling real estate in 1969, before townhouse construction became widespread. “They became middle ground between apartments and single detached houses.”
Townhouse living has become so popular over the last two decades that apartment builders have added them to their stock of rental properties, especially in suburban areas, according to the National Multifamily Council, a trade group.
“Townhouses give people who prefer apartment living the chance to maintain the same suburban lifestyle a townhouse owner enjoys,” said Pam Bennett, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Philadelphia.
“In the city proper, people are looking for high-rise living,” she said.
“In the country, where spaces are wider and more open, renters want something more homelike, with big windows that overlook green spaces, and patios and decks to entertain. These places come with pools and tennis courts, so there are plenty of amenities.”
The growing popularity of townhouse rental apartment living doesn’t surprise Gary G. Schaal, senior vice president for marketing for Orleans Corp.
The Bensalem company sold more new townhouses in 1996 and 1997 than any other Philadelphia-area builder, according to the Meyers Group, which tracks 289 of the area’s top builders.
“It stands to reason, since a second floor offers privacy or security missing from the traditional apartment flat,” said Schaal, who has worked in the residential construction industry for 25 years.
“They didn’t really take off at first,” Schaal said. “Back in 1973, you could buy a single-family detached house for $29,900, mortgage rates were 6 1/2 percent, and only 40 percent of the buyers were two-paycheck families, so there was a limited market.
“By the late 1970s, inflation had driven up new-home prices, interest rates reached historic levels, and the number of two-paycheck families increased in response,” Schaal said. “Townhouses became an important alternative.”
Townhouses have become the housing of choice in large-scale urban-renewal efforts in both the buyer and rental markets.
“High-rise apartment construction in low-income neighborhoods means that there are high concentrations of children with no place to play,” said Bill Salas, executive director of the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprise, which builds and renovates housing in North Philadelphia.
“But townhouse apartment living gives you plenty of space,” he said. “It give you the feeling of homeownership, and gets you ready for the time when you, too, will own a house.”
John Kromer, executive director of the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development, said larger neighborhood renewal projects in North Philadelphia use townhouse construction.
“Because we can’t amass large parcels of land, townhouses offer the best and most effective use of small lot space,” said Kromer. “Townhouses are also less expensive to build, which is a concern when you are trying to create home-buying opportunities in low-income areas.”
Tenth Memorial Baptist Church at 19th and Master Streets built 10 townhouses, with driveways and back yards like their suburban counterparts, across the street from the church and sold them at about the city’s median market price — around $45,000.
According to the Rev. William Moore, the church’s pastor, 50 prospective buyers showed up at an informational meeting when the townhouses went on the market, five times more people than units for sale.
For Moore, it was another effort to bring stability to his neighborhood. For Donna Peurifoy, it was a house that met her needs and expectations.
“It’s the kind of house I’ve always wanted but never expected to be able to afford,” she said. “And the fact that it is where I want to live is all the better.”
In 1997, 29 percent of the 11,819 new houses sold in metropolitan Philadelphia were townhouses, Meyers Group figures showed, with annual sales over the last five years typically averaging between 25 percent and 29 percent. Sales of detached single houses still predominate, probably because stand-alone houses surrounded by green lawn and trees still represent the “American dream.”
Mortgage rates play a role in how many new townhouses builders sell in a given year, according to John P. Paolin, president of Realshare, a Mount Laurel company that compiles sales and other marketing data for builders.
“Because more than 50 percent of new and existing townhouses are purchased by first-time buyers, the rates determine how much house they can afford,” Paolin said. “When rates are low, first-timers who were considering townhouses and condos are able to afford more house, so may buy a detached single instead. When rates are high, they stick with townhouses and condos.”
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For the last three years, rates have been so low that many people who bought townhouses and condos when rates were higher have been trading up to detached housing, pushing the inventory up substantially, Paolin said.
“There is so much inventory, it is driving the price of townhouses in the first-time market lower,” he said. “Townhouse builders are saying that 70 percent of their competition is coming from this lower-price resale market.”
In the early 1980s, one developer dubbed the townhouse trend the “downsizing” of America. The comment wasn’t accurate. It was based, perhaps, on the trend toward downsizing of cars in response to a decade of dwindling and costlier energy supplies.
But townhouses don’t come in one size or price. As with all new houses, townhouses have gotten larger, and many of them now have the same amenities as single homes — three to four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a garage.
“Back in the 1970s, the typical two-story townhouse ranged in size from 1,400 to 1,600 square feet,” Schaal said. “Now, we’re building up to 2,400 square feet, and, with finished basements, this can go up as high as 3,000 square feet.”
According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average size of a house built in 1997 was about 2,200 square feet.
While townhouses have become larger, the perimeter width has remained about 24 feet, Schaal said.