BURGLARS TARGET THE 3-BED SEMI
Where you live plays a big part in whether your home is burgled. But it’s not just the area, it’s rather the type of property you live in that’s attractive or off-putting to thieves.
The most popular target for breakin merchants is the three-bedroom semi.
New research by Churchill Home Insurance says three-bedroom homes are at greatest risk, accounting for almost half (46 per cent to be exact) of home burglaries.
And that’s not just because the three-bed home is most common across the country. It’s more down to the attractiveness of that type of property to thieves.
To work out what burglars look for, you have to think like one. Because they rarely know whether you have loads of valuable items to steal or not, most burglars look first for an easy target. And it’s usually only once they are in your home they search for things to take.
The classic three-bedroom semi is often easy meat for them. It can be simple to access the side and back, so they can get in without anyone noticing.
Equally, homes at the end of a terrace are more vulnerable than those in the middle, as they have side or rear entry. On terraced streets, end properties account for over a quarter of break-ins, even though they’re a small fraction of each road’s total housing.
If you live in a flat, the research shows the higher up you live, the safer you are from unwanted attention. The figures reveal living in a ground-floor flat means you are twice as likely to be burgled than someone on the first floor, with ground-floor break-ins said to account for 65 per cent of all apartment burglaries.
Both ground and first floors are simple to climb into. They often have easy to access balconies with doors and windows left unsecured – offering a quick way in and, just as important, a rapid route out in case of discovery or disturbance.
Higher up is safer; here the big risk is “distraction” theft, where someone knocks on the door claiming to have a parcel, or to have come from a utility company, before barging in and taking things.
Long term, burglaries have declined as easy-to-sell electronics have become too cheap to bother with and homeowners take better precautions.
But in April 2016 to March 2017, the most recent year where records exist, the welcome downward trend reversed – there were 171,527 recorded incidents of domestic burglaries – up 2 per cent on the previous year.