With house prices ever rising in Wanaka and throughout New Zealand, and a general reluctance towards apartments, is terraced housing the answer?

Terraced housing was first built en masse in Europe in the sixteenth century, following Dutch and Belgian models and quickly became popular in England, best known as row houses. Just across the ditch in Australia, terraced housing was introduced in the 19th century and remains the home style of choice for many inner city suburbs in major metropolises. In New Zealand however, we’ve been slow off the mark.

With house prices in Wanaka averaging more than a million dollars (prices have risen up to 41 percent in the past year alone), it’s fair to say the typical quarter acre dream is now beyond the reach of many regular Kiwis.

A recent Herald survey showed just ten percent of prospective home buyers would consider buying an apartment. Enter, the terraced house.

Victorian terraced housing in Surry Hills, Sydney. PHOTO: Supplied

Key characteristics of terraced homes include two shared walls (except for end-of-row units); individual front doors and pedestrian access; a private rear garden or patio and a front entrance area; consistency in front façade design, building line and skyline.

In short, a house with a garden or patio area carved into a small lot space by maximising use of buildable space.

There are multiple advantages to this type of build. Homeowners still get the outdoor space so desired by Kiwis; build costs and sale prices can be lower because of a smaller lot area, shared walls and uniformity in design; and, on a wider level, they can reduce urban sprawl.

Take for example the proposed Special Housing Area in Lake Hawea. Hawea residents are concerned by, among other things, the effect on the town boundaries. ‘Urban sprawl’ (also known as ‘suburbanisation’) would expand the town’s boundaries beyond the limit the Hawea Community Association deemed appropriate. Whether you call it reasonable or NIMBYism, it’s one of many situations where a resident population wants growth contained.

New build terraced homes can be aesthetically pleasing, like this one in London, which is a modern interpretation of the traditional row house. PHOTO: Supplied

Two local developments are choosing terraced housing for portions of their new home builds: Northlake has recently applied to the Queenstown Lakes District Council for consent to build 20 two-storey, three-bedroom terrace houses on lots of between 155sqm and 355sqm; and the Bright Sky development (located near the Wanaka Medical Centre/Aspiring Retirement Village) also plans to build terraced housing amongst its ‘Affordability by Design’ development.

Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust (QLCHT) executive officer Julie Scott said people she has built with through the trust have ideally wanted stand-alone homes, but “given the housing affordability issues we have been seeing for the last couple of years, people need to start getting their heads around a different style of living if they want to stay in Queenstown [Lakes District]”.

Two of the trust’s developments have incorporated terraced housing: Nerin Square is terraced housing and a number of trust-built Shotover Country homes are terraced. The benefits, Julie said, are “efficient use of space, cost savings, [and it’s] far more suitable for smaller sites than trying to build stand-alone”.

A council representative said some zones allow for terraced housing areas, such High Density Residential, Medium Density Residential, and also some areas within Shotover Country and Northlake.

“The district already has some terraced housing outside of these zones, but these are just a few of the main zones where it would be easier to get a resource consent for terraced housing,” the representative said.

Julie also said getting consent for terraced builds had been no more difficult than for stand-alone homes. “The QLCHT is a strong advocate of building smaller, smarter, higher performing and aesthetically pleasing housing, and terraced housing is part of this,” she said.

More terraced housing then? Bring it on.