Are house hunters superstitious about the number 13?
There were 9,674 homes sold in England and Wales last year at the number 13.
This compared to 16,318 at number 12 and 14,986 at number 14.
The general trend around the country was the lower the house number,
the higher the number of sales – so houses at number one had the most
sales, followed by number two, then three and so on.
Based on this trend we would expect somewhere between 14,986 and
16,318 house sales at number 13.
The actual total of 9,674 was therefore significantly less than we would expect.
In fact you were more likely to buy a house at numbers 14 to 25 than
number 13 in England and Wales last year.
Homes at number 13 were also slightly cheaper on average than those
either side of them.
The average property at number 13 sold for £195,998 in England and
Wales in 2016, compared to £202,000 for numbers 12 and 14.
This analysis only included homes with just a road number, meaning it
excluded houses with names, flat number 13 and homes at 13a or 13b.
The number 13 is widely thought to be unlucky in the West. The
scientific term for the belief is triskaidekaphobia.
It’s not certain where the superstition came from. One theory is that
the belief stems from the New Testament account of Jesus eating the
Last Supper with his 12 disciples before Judas betrayed him.
On the other hand, the number four is thought by many to be unlucky in
much of East Asia because it sounds similar to ‘death’ and related
words when pronounced in many of the languages in the region,
including Mandarin Chinese and Korean.