Stranger than fiction: living at number 13 lowers the price of your home

If you are buying a house, look at the number carefully, writes Dick Skellington.

I live at a number 13. Someone reading this must share the same experience. If you do, research has shown that the curse of number 13 can lower your property's value by as much as £3,300 below the average. However, if you had bought a number 15 or a number 11, it could have put at least £500 extra on the value of your property.

I have long suspected that superstition may have a negative impact on property value, but have no idea why odd-numbered houses are more expensive than even. Anyone with any ideas why please contact the blog.

Research by the UK property company Zoopla has found that odd-numbered homes are worth £538 more than even-numbered homes. A typical odd-numbered dwelling is worth £207,202, but the even-numbered dwelling is worth only £206,664. Number 13s on average gross only £203,892 at sale.

I never thought about the number when buying my home 27 years ago, and nothing bad has happened to me since, apart from those blows and misfortunes caused by my own stupidity, and the long delay in replacing the roof, now a task completed along with installing a new bedroom and landscape designed small garden. In 1985, the terraced Edwardian property in a quiet conservation area of Stony Stratford was affordable, in good condition, and felt right. And in case you ask, no, I did not buy it on a Friday.

It seems the British, along with other people in Europe, still find the number 13 unlucky. The origins for the superstition are contested but it seems to have something to do with the fact the there were 13 people at The Last Supper, and fear of 13 was widespread in medieval times.

Number 13 even has its own phobia. People who have an abnormal fear of the number are suffering from something called triskaidekaphobia. Some new-build estates now avoid the number 13 like the plague. Many skyscrapers do not have a thirteenth floor.

And did you know the price of a property decreases as its number increases? So if you live at number 898 I fully empathise (the reason is that high numbers are generally further away from amenities and shops). However, should you reside at a number 1, I envy you (the implication is that you only have neighbours one side, or you live on a corner). See the table below:

AVERAGE VALUES BY PROPERTY NUMBER
Property Number Average Value

1                                      £229,411
2                                    £222,273
3                                    £218,724
4                                      £217,662
5                                      £215,605
6                                      £213,476
7                                    £212,292
8                                      £211,711
9                                      £211,026
10                                    £210,864

Maybe I should give my number 13 a name. I could be ironic and call it Sea View (the sea is 120 miles away), or I could have a laugh and call it The Haunted House, or even better Triskaidekaphobia. But I would probably settle for something less alluring and compelling. Ousebank Terrace, after the nearby River Ouse, should do, or even Society Matters.

If I put a name on my house it should compensate for the number 13 factor. You see those smart-asses at Zoopla found that a property with a name is nearly £100,000 more expensive than a home which only has a number. So I am off to B&Q to buy a plaque.

Dick Skellington 30 May 2013

The views expressed in this post, as in all posts on Society Matters, are the views of the author, not The Open University.

Cartoon by Gary Edwards

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About Society Matters

Provocative, relevant, current: for the last decade Society Matters magazine has been informing, engaging and annoying social sciences students in equal measure. Now, its move online has given us the chance to bring its lively mix of analysis and opinion to a wider audience.

Society Matters online started in October 2010 and has, so far, covered a wide range of issues and topics ranging from inequality and the big society to arms sales and foreign policy. All can be seen by scrolling down from the top of the Society Matters front page.

We have also illustrated many of these posts with the work of our two illustrators (see below). Serious analyses have been interspersed with posts on a less weighty issues which show both human folly and innovation.

Society Matters continues to be edited by its original creator, Dick Skellington. Dick, pictured above, was previously a programme manager in the social sciences faculty, walks the talk through an active involvement in the affairs of his home town of Stony Stratford, Bucks, and finds light relief through writing poetry and the occasional stage appearance in local productions.

Since many years at the coalface of journalism have taught us all that sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words Dick is aided and abetted by resident illustrators, Gary Edwards and Catherine Pain – both former OU students.

Catherine has drawn and painted all her life, and when she is not pillorying public figures for Society Matters paints animal portraits, works in stained glass and produces alphabet teaching posters for children. Her work is in several galleries in and around her current home in Cambridgeshire and her publications include an illustrated cookbook sold on behalf of the National Trust, a colouring book for small children, Alphabet for Colouring, and The Lost Children, a story for older children. Her website is at catherinepain.co.uk

Gary has written two best-selling books about his travels all over the world watching Leeds United FC, Paint it White and Leeds United - The Second Coat. His third title No Glossing Over will be published by Mainstream in September 2011. He has not missed a Leeds game anywhere in the world since February 1968 and married his wife Lesley at Elland Road.

Specialising in wall murals, Gary also holds diplomas from the London Art College, The Morris College of Journalism, has a Diploma in Freelance Cartooning and Illustration and is a contributing cartoonist for Speakeasy, an English-speaking magazine in Paris. During the 1970's and 1980's he collected hearses and is a long time member of the Official Flat Earth Society as well as the Clay Pigeon Preservation Society.

Please note: The opinions expressed in Society Matters posts are those of the individual authors, and do not represent the views of The Open University.