A typical terraced house in Bristol sold for £377,250 in 2025 — £12,225 more than the typical semi-detached house (£365,025). That is an unusual result. Semis almost always outsell terraces in English cities, because a semi typically carries a garden on both sides and a driveway that a mid-terrace lacks. Bristol is one of the few major English cities where the citywide numbers run the other way (HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, 2025 completions, retrieved 2026-09-30).
Terraces are also Bristol's single biggest property type: 2,580 of the city's 6,211 standard residential sales in 2025 (41.5%) were terraced houses, ahead of flats (30.3%), semis (23.1%) and detached houses (5.1%).
The citywide picture
| Property type | 2025 median | Sales | Share of market |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £544,665 | 314 | 5.1% |
| Terraced | £377,250 | 2,580 | 41.5% |
| Semi-detached | £365,025 | 1,434 | 23.1% |
| Flat | £265,000 | 1,883 | 30.3% |
Read at city level, terraces sit above semis by 3.3%. But that headline number hides a much more interesting pattern once you break Bristol down by postcode district — and the district-level reality is closer to the opposite of what the citywide figure suggests.
District by district, semis usually win
Comparing terrace and semi medians in every BS postcode district with at least 20 sales of each type in 2025, semis outsell terraces in 9 of 12 comparable districts — in two of them, by a wide margin.
| District | Terraced median (n) | Semi median (n) | Higher type |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS8 (Clifton) | £740,000 (59) | too few sales to compare | — |
| BS6 (Cotham, Redland) | £697,500 (128) | £915,000 (90) | Semi +31% |
| BS7 (Bishopston, Horfield) | £491,250 (270) | £407,000 (116) | Terrace +21% |
| BS9 (Stoke Bishop, Henleaze) | £472,300 (73) | £715,250 (168) | Semi +51% |
| BS3 (Bedminster, Southville) | £435,000 (432) | £452,000 (93) | Semi +4% |
| BS2 (Central) | £420,000 (81) | too few sales to compare | — |
| BS4 (Brislington, Knowle) | £375,000 (340) | £325,000 (178) | Terrace +15% |
| BS5 (Easton, St George) | £350,000 (525) | £333,000 (87) | Terrace +5% |
| BS16 (Fishponds, Downend) | £346,000 (160) | £350,000 (121) | Semi +1% |
| BS10 (Southmead, Brentry) | £310,000 (101) | £337,500 (118) | Semi +9% |
| BS15 (Kingswood) | £300,000 (74) | £325,000 (45) | Semi +8% |
| BS11 (Avonmouth, Lawrence Weston) | £292,000 (75) | £308,000 (77) | Semi +5% |
| BS13 (Hartcliffe, Withywood) | £280,000 (140) | £325,000 (141) | Semi +16% |
| BS14 (Whitchurch, Hengrove) | £280,000 (115) | £325,000 (180) | Semi +16% |
In Cotham and Redland (BS6), the gap runs the widest of all — semis there fetch 31% more than terraces, largely because the area's semi-detached stock includes large Victorian double-fronted villas rather than the smaller mid-terrace houses on the same streets. Stoke Bishop and Henleaze (BS9) show the same pattern more sharply still, with a 51% semi premium.
So the citywide inversion is real, but it is not the product of terraces beating semis everywhere. It is the product of terraces beating semis in exactly three districts — Bishopston/Horfield, Brislington/Knowle and Easton/St George — combined with where each property type is concentrated across the city.
Why the aggregate flips: it's about location, not property type
Bristol's terraced housing stock sits disproportionately inside the city's historic inner ring. Of the 2,573 terrace sales captured in the district table above, 1,908 (74.2%) were in the eight central and near-central districts (BS2, BS3, BS4, BS5, BS6, BS7, BS8, BS9) — the dense Victorian and Edwardian streets of Bedminster, Southville, Totterdown, Easton, Bishopston, Redland, Clifton and Cotham, all within two or three miles of the centre.
Semi-detached stock is split much more evenly: of 1,414 comparable semi sales, only 732 (51.8%) were in that same inner ring, with the rest spread across the outer 1930s-to-1960s suburban estates — Southmead, Hartcliffe, Whitchurch, Kingswood, Fishponds — where semis are the dominant house type and prices sit at £300,000–£350,000.
In other words: Bristol's terraces are disproportionately inner-city terraces, and its semis are disproportionately split between a handful of very expensive inner streets and a much larger pool of cheaper outer-suburban estates. Average the two together at city level, and the inner-city terrace concentration pulls the terrace median up further than the mixed semi pool pulls its own median.
How Bristol compares with other cities
This "shape" is distinctly Bristol's own. In Birmingham and Leeds, semis are both the largest property type by volume and the more expensive of the two, the pattern you would expect. Manchester's market is flat-led by volume, but semis still outprice terraces there too. Bristol is the only one of the four where the numbers invert at city level.
| City | Largest type by volume | Terraced median | Semi-detached median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | Semi (36.2%) | £215,000 | £261,000 |
| Leeds | Semi (40.5%) | £196,000 | £258,000 |
| Manchester | Flat (37.1%) | £244,000 | £305,000 |
| Bristol | Terrace (41.5%) | £377,250 | £365,025 |
What it costs to buy at each median
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) scales with price, so the £12,225 gap between the two citywide medians carries a modest but real tax difference for a standard (non-first-time-buyer) purchase in England, calculated 2026-09-30:
| Terraced median (£377,250) | Semi median (£365,025) | |
|---|---|---|
| SDLT, standard buyer | £8,862.50 (2.35%) | £8,251.25 (2.26%) |
| SDLT, first-time buyer | £3,862.50 | £3,251.25 |
| Illustrative mortgage (75% LTV, 25yr, 4.32%) | ~£1,544/month | ~£1,494/month |
The mortgage figures are illustrative only, based on the Bank of England's quoted 75%-LTV five-year fixed rate of 4.32% (dated 2026-04-01) amortised over 25 years — not a quote from any lender, and not the same calculation used for the SDLT figures above. Bristol's 2026-27 Band D council tax, which applies regardless of property type, is £2,713.68 (gov.uk, Bristol City Council).
Checking a real street
Bedminster's Maidstone Street (postcode BS3 4SW) is a working example of the inner-city terrace stock driving the citywide figure — a run of freehold Victorian terraces with a spread of recent sale prices either side of the district's £435,000 median. For the wider Bristol picture, see the Bristol house price anchor, and for how the city's flat market compares with its houses, Bristol house vs flat near the centre. Clifton's BS8 apartment market — the priciest flat submarket in the city — is covered separately in the Clifton flat premium. For the underlying cost of buying at a similar price point elsewhere in the UK, see the true cost of buying a £400,000 home. More city and district breakdowns sit in the regional prices section.
Based on 6,211 HM Land Registry Price Paid transactions completed in Bristol in 2025, and the 2026-27 Band D council tax rate published by Bristol City Council via gov.uk.
This article is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Stamp Duty Land Tax and mortgage costs depend on individual circumstances. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.