Property: A flat vote for security and comfort

City dwellers prefer apartments to houses, says Stella Bingham

Give up the draining daily commute to work. Abandon the search for the elusive parking space. Forget about the breathalyser when out on the town. The cure for stress is city centre living, where shops, restaurants and jobs are all a short stroll away from home.

The number of households in England is expected to rise by 4.4 million by 2016 and the Government wants at least 50 per cent of these new homes to be on urban land. The move is already well under way. Inner-city former industrial sites and rubbish-clogged canal-sides have been transformed into places where people work, rest and play. Cities such as Newcastle and Leeds no longer die after dark.

For most people, an urban home means an apartment, but the house-builder Barratt has identified a demand for traditional, two-storey houses in inner London. Barratt's three townhouse developments in Limehouse, Poplar and Bermondsey have all been snapped up.

Barratt East London chairman, David Pretty, says that: "Even in areas where commerce and the City are the focus of working lives and flat dwelling is the norm, there are still people who feel that the ideal property is their own house with their own front door and a private garden."

Chris Shaw and Laure Thebault, who both work for an insurance broking firm in Aldgate, paid pounds 84,000 for a two-bedroom townhouse in St James's Walk, beside Canary Wharf. "The thing that impressed me most about the house was the fact that it had a garden," says Chris. "I had been wanting one for some time. There aren't many properties so close to the City which have gardens.

"Also, there was a problem parking with my old flat. Now I have my own parking space."

But flats are still first choice for most city-dwellers. Steve Sayers, of Beazer Homes' Edinburgh region, reports that: "Buyers come from all walks of life - from young professionals who do not have time to spend in the garden, through to couples approaching retirement who are looking for a home they can leave in the knowledge that security will not be a major issue." Beazer is launching two new developments of one- and two- bedroom flats in Edinburgh. Prices start at pounds 39,995.

When Dr Keith Sansom, 52, chairman and chief executive of the BIP Group, and his wife Jennifer, 50, needed a Birmingham base to add to their homes in London and Sydney they chose a two-bedroom flat in Symphony Court, a smart waterside development in the city centre.

"We wanted something safe, secure, lockable but with all the advantages of the city," says Jennifer, who works and studies in London during the week. "We chose a flat with a terrace, for the sun and its aspect. We did not buy a townhouse because we wanted to keep to a budget and we felt a flat could give us what we wanted.

"It totally fulfils our needs. It's an upmarket crash pad for my husband in the week, and I can come and go as I want. I enjoy the buzz of living in a city and there are concerts and theatres nearby."

Per square foot, the three-storey townhouses and the flats cost about the same, says Keith Pepperdine of Symphony Court's developers, Crosby Homes. "Apartments are simply horizontal houses. But the houses are larger because of stairwells and so on, so they cost more. With townhouses you have the advantage of your own front door, no shared hallway and a garden, but many people feel apartments offer a greater degree of security." Prices for remaining properties start at pounds 89,950 for a two-bedroom flat.

"We see a lot of people who live in London when they are single, move out when they have a family and move back in when they are 55-plus," says Mike Dobner, sales and marketing manager of Fairclough Homes. "And they are generally looking for a flat with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice outlook, off-street parking and access to the Tube. There is the lock- up-and-leave factor. In a house, people tend to know you are not there."

Mike Dobner agrees that it costs roughly the same to build townhouses as flats. Richard Wood-Penn, joint managing director of FairBriar disagrees. "It is almost invariably more expensive to build flats because once you go over three storeys you have lifts and a higher level of servicing. They are more expensive structurally, and you have a greater density of bathrooms and kitchens."

Nonetheless, FairBriar's three London developments in Limehouse, Chelsea and Westminster are all apartments. "We are largely driven by planning constraints. These are areas where tall buildings are acceptable and we are following the style. And there is more demand for flats from urban dwellers." Prices at Dunbar Wharf, Limehouse, range from pounds 85,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to pounds 575,000 for the penthouse.

Tim Truman of Charles Church also believes that up-market apartments can be more expensive to build than townhouses of similar quality. "If you have gated entrances, lifts and underground parking you are going to pay a premium. These are the sort of properties that appeal to wealthy singles and divorced people and overseas buyers."

Whatever the price, it seems that for city slickers, flats win hands down over townhouses.