What is a penthouse in real estate and what are its main differences?

In modern houses, this type of luxury housing such as a penthouse is very common. What is a penthouse? Many people think that this is just a two-level apartment on the top floor of the house, the attic. In fact, a penthouse can be said to be an independent house on the upper floors of high-rise buildings. It occupies two levels and above. Its distinctive feature is that the attic and roof of the house must be completely at the disposal of the owner, otherwise this living space will be no different from other apartments in the house.

What does the penthouse look like?

The main reason why such housing got its name is its location. The apartment occupies the entire top floor of the building. A two-story penthouse is a common option. It consists of two floors, connected by stairs and often by its own elevator. Such a mansion on the roof of a skyscraper is isolated from the main house; its owners have no contact with their neighbors. It has everything that the others lack - a huge terrace with a view of the city, a winter garden, a swimming pool and other amenities of civilization.

Penthouse kitchen

The abundance of free space opens up wide possibilities for kitchen interior design. The rooftop penthouse allows for a wood-burning stove, around which the whole family can gather on quiet evenings. An island kitchen is an excellent solution for a penthouse. This way you can cook in the work area and eat in the living room. The advantage of island design is that you can store a lot of useful utensils here. If this is not a question, designers suggest making open shelves, decorating them with stylish accessories. On the open veranda you can arrange a relaxation area with a barbecue.

Penthouse bedroom

This room is often located on the second floor in a private area. A huge penthouse provides the opportunity to realize your wildest fantasies and dreams:

1. The LED backlight, playing with all the colors of the rainbow, can change its hue depending on the owner’s mood, his desire to relax or just lie down and read a book.
2. Panoramic windows offer a gorgeous view of the city below. Bedroom design can be done in a variety of colors, even downright dark ones, because there is no shortage of light. Beige, sand and all shades of flesh are also relevant.
3. Mirrors are often placed in the bedroom to further expand the space. In this case, the bed can stand in the center of the room, not adjacent to the wall.

Penthouse living room

When describing what a penthouse is, one cannot ignore the living room - the center of attraction for all family members and guests present. In a huge space, several zones are combined: a place for watching TV, a fireplace, a dining room, individual places to relax

A penthouse with panoramic windows may have:

1. A laconic living room in high-tech style. The white and black design, generously diluted with glass and metal elements, looks non-trivial and expensive.
2. Living room in beige and brown tones. In combination with soft warm light, it looks cozy, as if inviting you to sit on soft sofas and enjoy the view outside the window.
3. A living room with dome-shaped ceilings for even more light, creating a weightless building effect and merging the interior with the surrounding landscape.

Penthouse staircase

When figuring out what a penthouse is, you need to pay attention to the staircase. Without it, it’s impossible to imagine such a huge luxury housing under the very sky

A large penthouse needs communication between floors, which is often made from:

1. Individual blocks, as if hanging in the air
   . This “stairway to heaven” is very popular due to its unusual nature. However, despite the apparent weightlessness, it is very durable.
2. Metal structures and glass
   . An option that suits the loft style perfectly. The staircase, which could only be found in factories and factories, migrated to beautiful penthouses and endowed them with a special “industrial” zest.
3. With backlight
   . Such a spiral staircase can become a real decoration of the house.

About modern penthouses

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Another distinctive feature of this housing is its large area; it is often larger than the area of ​​ordinary apartments in the house, which affects the price accordingly. But it is not only the area of ​​the apartment that determines the price of a penthouse. The price is influenced more by the classification of housing, and this housing is considered premium housing and is currently one of the most expensive properties on the real estate market in Russia and in the world.

These mansions must have a terrace on the roof, which the owner can use at his own discretion by making a swimming pool, garden, court, and so on. The real rooftop house is located in a high-rise building alone, and it offers beautiful views from the obligatory panoramic windows. And also this type of real estate is determined by high ceilings, even if all the ceilings in the house are standard, here they should be higher, sometimes they reach ten meters.

Naturally, a separate elevator and individual underground parking are provided for it. The entrance is also separate, and often it is its own elevator. True penthouses range from three hundred to one thousand square meters. It is worth noting that now many multi-level apartments on the top floors of a building are called by this definition, this is incorrect, because they do not have those individual characteristics that distinguish this type of housing from others.

So, let's summarize the main distinguishing features:

1. Big square.
2. High ceilings.
3. Panoramic glazing.
4. Terrace.
5. There is only one copy of such housing in the house.

These are just the main five signs that distinguish a penthouse from just a two-level or more apartment, and there are many even less significant ones. For example, some penthouses even have a helipad, a tennis court, and an observation deck. And since such housing has a large area, therefore, there are quite a lot of rooms there, but this is an optional factor, because everything depends on the wishes of the customer and on the architecture of the house itself. One of the main points: the penthouse is not a floor of the main building.

Penthouse and townhouse: what's the difference

The abundance of unusual names sometimes creates confusion or misunderstanding in terminology. For example, what is a penthouse and a townhouse, what is the difference between them?

We have already looked at what a penthouse is. The definition of "townhouse" refers to land-based properties. This is a type of city cottage (townhouse is a city house in literal translation).

It is a collection of adjacent multi-level (two- or three-story) residential premises that have their own entrance, garage or parking lot, and a plot of land adjacent to the facade of the house.

The construction of townhouses was caused by the need to save urban space, since completely separate houses (mansions) with a plot of land would cause the growth of megacities to incredible sizes, making it difficult to get to different points of the city.

So, penthouse and townhouse: what's the difference? Firstly, the location. Penthouses are located on the roof (optionally on the upper floors with access to the roof), and townhouses are built on the ground. In addition, the penthouse is a strictly separate dwelling that does not recognize the proximity of strangers. Townhouses, on the contrary, tend to have neighbors with whom they share common walls. They can be imagined as many cottages of the same architectural type, tightly packed together in such a way that there are no gaps between them.

Important! There are also legal differences related to the determination of the form of ownership and the qualification of the type of premises.

Differences

• A townhouse is a city apartment, but with a plot of land, and the penthouse is located on the roof of a high-rise building.
• A townhouse has several floors, unlike a penthouse, which is always one floor.
• A penthouse is only luxury housing, when a townhouse is intended for a wide group of the population.
• You can enter the townhouse immediately, and an elevator or stairs will help you get to the penthouse.
• The cost of a townhouse is much lower. At a convenient distance from Moscow, depending on the presence or absence of infrastructure, the price varies from 1.5 to 9 million rubles.
• Legally, a penthouse is not a residential premises, but belongs to commercial real estate. Therefore, prices for utilities are very high, and there is no way to register. It can be converted into an office.
• A townhouse can be purchased as an ordinary house, after first reading the documentation and checking the availability of a license from the developer. Each owner receives the right to a land plot after putting the house into operation.

Penthouse and townhouse: what's the difference

Example of a typical townhouse

Often a penthouse is confused with a townhouse due to the similarity in sound. These two types of objects are radically different from each other. Let's try to figure out the difference between a penthouse and a townhouse.

A townhouse is an apartment in a country house designed for several families, consisting of several floors, usually 2-3 floors are built.

The townhouse is separated from its neighbors by side walls, so it turns out that there are no neighbors above or below, creating the feeling of living in a separate house.

Each house has an individual entrance and a small plot of land; in most cases there is a garage, barbecue area, and a parking space in front of the house.

A penthouse refers to expensive luxury housing, which demonstrates the status, high income, and position in society of the owner of such real estate. Elite apartments have a unique individual layout and exclusive design that you will not find anywhere else; environmentally friendly expensive materials are used in decoration.

Since townhouses are built as a complex, the layout is designed the same for everyone, which limits the possibility of radically redesigning the space and individuality in the interior. Finishing materials can be for every taste and budget, depending on the capabilities of the owner.

As a rule, on the ground floors there is a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and technical rooms. On the second and third (if available) floors there is a bathroom, bedrooms, children's rooms, an office, a gym and others. Some townhouses have a basement where you can equip a gym, equip a sauna or billiard room, or build a swimming pool.

Main differences

The main differences between penthouses and townhouses are their location and view of the city landscape, and their focus on a specific group of people. The townhouse was originally planned to be able to live within the city with the comfort of a country house, as close to nature as possible.

Towns are budget-friendly, since the house is designed for several apartments at once and construction costs are required significantly less than for an individual house.

Market: demand is growing

Every year, townhouses are becoming more and more popular among real estate buyers. Despite the difficult economic situation, interest in them is growing, amid a decrease in demand for cottages. The popularity of this housing format is explained by simple but undeniable advantages: affordable cost, large area, convenient layout and the opportunity to live in nature. In addition, semi-detached houses do not require significant maintenance costs compared to private ones.

According to experts, a redistribution of demand in the countryside real estate market occurred at the beginning of 2015, and by the end of the year, only 5% of buyers preferred cottages, while 17% chose townhouses. This is facilitated by the current variety of mortgage programs on the market, as well as the fact that townhouses are rated by banks as highly liquid products.

What to consider when choosing a penthouse and is it possible to save money on it?

Each specific situation when purchasing such an unusual property as a penthouse has its own individual characteristics

However, there are several general, quite obvious points that are worth paying attention to first:

How beautiful is the panoramic view?

Since the view is the exclusive competitive advantage of a penthouse, you can start your choice with it, immediately weeding out unsuitable options. Who else will have access to the upper roof: neighbors, representatives of the Management Company, other interested parties - this is especially important in the case of a long-term investment, if you intend to purchase a permanent place of residence. Is it possible to create your own layout for an individual project - which structures can be adjusted or completely removed; Will the plans be hampered by the location of load-bearing supports, the elevator shaft, and other integral engineering elements? What is the height of the ceilings. Usually you should not consider ceilings below 3.5 meters, since in most cases they will need to be finished - creating a stretch ceiling or for other projects, which will inevitably reduce the height

At the same time, it is the height of the room that creates a pleasant feeling of free space. For sale is a turnkey building or a multi-level apartment project without cosmetic renovations. It is in this case that you can save a lot - it’s easy to calculate that finishing it yourself will cost much less. In addition, you will be able to develop your own interior design project to suit your taste. What is the ratio of living (usable) space to utility space that may not have to be used. If you immediately redevelop the area or choose the most suitable option, you can significantly save on the maintenance of the house. In what area is the penthouse located? Is it possible to save money on similar housing located nearby, but cheaper due to the location factor. What additional areas are located on the roof of a high-rise building (walking area, tennis court, helicopter parking, swimming pool, etc.). Is it possible to have a separate entrance (separate entrance) and/or a separate elevator.

The most common option is a penthouse without finishing, i.e. walls, ceilings, floors with windows, doors and utilities. Such an area is convenient because it gives you the opportunity not to remodel the building, but to create it again to suit your own preferences. This is why it is almost impossible to find 2 approximately identical, similar properties on the penthouse market - this is a very individualized housing.

Interior Design Ideas

As mentioned above, one of the significant advantages of penthouses is that they can implement a variety of design ideas, since there are no special restrictions. The owners can decorate their rich home in a variety of stylistic directions. Let's look at some successful and attractive examples.

One of the most popular styles in the design of penthouses is high-tech. This is a modern direction, which is dominated by strict geometric lines and materials such as glass, plastic and metal. In this vein, you can decorate a spacious home on 2 levels, resorting to black and white furniture combinations, and in decoration sticking only to snow-white shades.

In a penthouse setting, such a restrained but popular style as minimalism also looks good. In a large room, against the backdrop of tall floor-to-ceiling windows, you can place cream upholstered furniture with leather trim and complement it with a glass coffee table. A cozy seating area will look great paired with white walls, caramel-colored tiled floors and a fluffy beige rug. There shouldn’t be a lot of decorations here – a carpet and living plants will suffice.

Nowadays, brutal and rough loft has become one of the most popular styles. The penthouse can be decorated in this way. In this case, for finishing you can choose either plain light materials or stone or brickwork. Wood will look good on the floor. It is advisable to select furniture of strict and restrained shapes, without decorations or curved lines. In the loft style, dark metal structures (for example, a small table with black iron legs) look harmonious.

The Art Nouveau style looks interesting and fresh in the interior. It would be suitable for a penthouse. This is a stylistic direction in which glossy surfaces and materials of natural origin predominate. There are usually beautiful curved shapes of furniture and decor, rounded facades, and asymmetry. There should be no sharp corners in the interior.

Benefits of a penthouse

Panoramic views of the city and natural attractions. The penthouse is located in a high-rise building, but has individual heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems. Thanks to their location at a height, the penthouses are quiet from road noise and the air is cleaner. Free and spacious layout. Exclusive design – no two penthouses are almost identical. Distance from neighbors - no neighbors on the site

Their own elevator and entrance makes it easy not to know or see them at all. The penthouses have a lot of daylight, and if desired, you can completely hide from it. Penthouse windows are rarely accessible to passers-by, neighbors or journalists, so there is no need to protect yourself from views from the street. A penthouse is prestigious; such housing is bought by pop stars, public people for whom it is important to show their importance, status, taste and wealth. From the penthouse you can watch the stars and equip your own observatory. Penthouses most often have high ceilings; they can be left as is, or a living space can be made into several levels. Moreover, a penthouse on one side can consist of three floors, and on the other one or two

Thanks to several levels, the room has one or more staircases that decorate the interior. In penthouses on the ocean or seashore, there is a special atmosphere; the level of the floor or water of the pool can visually merge with the water level of the ocean. Penthouses are located in big cities, in areas with developed infrastructure. The penthouse does not look like an ordinary apartment, as it has a semblance of its own courtyard and a wide terrace.

Penthouse: description, disadvantages, advantages and estimated cost in the Russian Federation

What is a penthouse? Photo No. 1

Penthouse is one of the most luxurious and prestigious types of urban housing today. This concept originated in Manhattan, which is where all its elitism comes from.

Many people mistakenly believe that a penthouse is any housing located on the top floors of an apartment building, having several levels and a large area. Of course, to some extent such an apartment can be called a penthouse, but this would be slightly incorrect, since in real estate this concept is interpreted a little differently.

According to generally accepted standards, a penthouse is a full-fledged house, which is located on the roof of an apartment building or simply a high-rise building. The features of such housing are:

• terrace with views on 3-4 sides;
• several levels (often from 2 to 4 floors);
• complete isolation from other residential properties at its location.

In addition, the penthouse may have an entire garden, gazebo, swimming pool, golf course and similar elements in the surrounding area. Today, this type of housing is practically impossible to complete without a panoramic wall arrangement or, at a minimum, large windows.

In all countries of the world, penthouses are the housing of the elite, they are quite expensive and symbolize exceptional luxury. At its core, this housing is a private house, but located on a high-rise building in an ordinary city.

Differences between a penthouse and other types of luxury housing. Photo No. 2

A classic penthouse has both some advantages and disadvantages. The first include:

• constant availability of fresh air;
• uniqueness and pronounced individuality;
• an atmosphere of aloofness and pleasant luxury;
• excellent panoramic view;
• lack of neighbors;
• high ceilings;
• multi-level;
• environmental friendliness;
• the profitability of financial investments in such housing.

Of course, penthouses have fewer disadvantages, but they still exist:

• Firstly, the high cost. A square meter of living space in a penthouse costs from $5,000 in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the real cost of one is $15,000-25,000.
• Secondly, the high location. This relates to the disadvantages due to the fact that not all people can be at the 10th floor level, let alone live there, plus at such a height there is often strong wind, which can cause additional discomfort.
• Thirdly, the difficulty of making an informed choice, since the structure of penthouses is extremely complex and it will not be easy for an unprepared person to take into account all the nuances of such housing when choosing it.
• And fourthly, the relative inconvenience of using penthouses in the Russian Federation due to the climate of our area, which, by the way, is not stable.

It’s difficult to answer which one outweighs, probably everyone has to decide for themselves, but we will continue to talk about such an outlandish type of housing.

A little history

Now let's move away from modernity and find out where the name came from, and what a penthouse is historically, and whether it has always been associated with elite housing on the roof.
Let's figure out where the word itself came from. At the moment, opinions on this matter are divided. Some adhere to the theory that this name appeared in England, somewhere in the sixteenth century, and this building was used for military purposes, or, more precisely, to house soldiers.

Followers of another, more widespread version , tend to believe that penthouses appeared in the twenties of the last century in New York, since the bohemians of that time loved to relax on the roofs. At that time, there was a fashion for luxury housing on rooftops and, as now, very wealthy people could buy it. In the USA, similar apartment houses began to be built in the sixties. But even now the demand for this property has not fallen. In Russia they appeared only sixty years later, in the nineties, but in the USSR there was such a thing as attics, vaguely reminiscent of penthouses. They were located in houses built during the times of the empire.

Let's go back to modern times and consider the advantages of penthouses:

1. The air is cleaner at altitude.
2. Feeling of superiority as a psychological factor.
3. While in the city, you can feel like you are in a country cottage.
4. Panoramic view.
5. No neighbors.
6. Investing in a sought-after real estate property.
7. Environmentally friendly.
8. High ceilings.