North-facing house: is it dark?

A north-facing house is only dark on the north side, and if that's the front, the back of the house and the garden face south and get the sun. The rooms that do face north get steady, even daylight but almost no direct sun from autumn to spring.

Arundel Avenue, Wavertree, Liverpool, at midday on 21 December. Free, no sign-up.

Front or back makes all the difference

When people describe a house as north-facing they normally mean the front door and front elevation face north. That puts the rear rooms and the back garden on the south side, which is what most UK buyers are hoping for. Plenty of sought-after terraces are north-facing at the front for exactly this reason.

The version to think harder about is a house whose back faces north: north-facing kitchen, north-facing living room at the rear, north-facing garden. Listings tend to describe the garden direction, so "north-facing garden" is the phrase to watch for. If the listing doesn't say, check it yourself with our guide to which way your house faces.

Why winter is the problem

In the UK the sun stays in the southern half of the sky for the whole of the winter. After the September equinox it rises south of due east and sets south of due west, so a wall facing due north gets no direct sun at all until March. Here's how low it gets at midday on 21 December, calculated with the same formulas the sun path map uses:

Those shadows matter for a north-facing garden. At midday in December the house itself shades a long strip of ground behind it, and the further north you are the longer that strip gets. The garden may still catch sun at its far end, depending on its length and what's beyond it.

Summer is a different story

In June the sun rises in the north-east (about 49° in London) and sets in the north-west (about 311°). A north-facing wall in London gets direct sun before roughly 08:25 and after roughly 17:40, around seven hours in all on the longest day. North-facing front gardens and doorsteps often get lovely evening light in summer, and north-facing rooms stay cooler when the south side is overheating.

Is north light bad light?

No, just different. North-facing rooms get light from the sky rather than straight from the sun, so it's softer and changes less through the day. That's why painters' studios were traditionally built with north-facing windows. What north-facing rooms lack is warmth and that bright winter sunshine, so they can feel cold and grey from November to February, especially with small windows or tall buildings opposite.

What to check at a viewing

• Which side faces north. Open the compass on your phone and stand with your back to the front door. Then do the same from the back door or garden.
• Where you'll spend the day. A north-facing bedroom or utility room is rarely a problem. A north-facing kitchen-diner where you'd sit every evening is a bigger question.
• What's opposite. Tall buildings or trees on the south side can block the low winter sun from a south-facing back, leaving the whole house in shade.
• Window size. Large north-facing windows or rooflights make a big difference to daylight.
• The time you're there. Viewings at noon in June tell you little about 4 pm in December.

Then put the address into Sundial, set 21 December, and drag the time from sunrise to sunset. Switch to Sun hours to see how many hours of direct sun the garden gets that day, and compare with 21 June.

South of the equator, swap the words

In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa the sun sits in the northern sky, so north-facing is the sunny, sought-after side and south-facing is the shady one. In Sydney at midwinter the noon sun is 32.7° high in the north, and a south-facing wall gets no direct sun at all.