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Kensington and Chelsea · report

Buy or rent in Kensington and Chelsea

Renting the average home costs less each month than owning it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is the average of all private tenancies. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.

Rent per month
£3,739
Owning per month
£5,669

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £1,204,072 and the average private rent of £3,739 a month in Kensington and Chelsea, and a mortgage rate of 4.6%.

Assumptions
4.6
1
Buildings insurance, maintenance, and any service charge and ground rent. Council tax is paid by tenants too, so it is left out.
3
What the deposit and purchase costs could earn if invested instead.
7
Stamp duty (land transaction tax in Wales, LBTT in Scotland), conveyancing, survey and lender's fees, paid once.

Renting costs less each month than owning.

Rent a month
£3,739
Owning a month, not recovered
£5,669
Interest
£4,154
Running costs
£1,003
Return given up
£512
Cash out a month, if buying
£6,559

Gross rental yield in Kensington and Chelsea

A year's rent as a share of the average sale price, month by month. Higher means rent is dear compared with buying.

Show the numbers
PeriodKensington and Chelsea
Aug 20263.7%
Jul 20263.5%
Jun 20263.3%
May 20263.2%
Apr 20263.2%
Mar 20263.3%
Feb 20263.3%
Jan 20263.3%
Dec 20253.3%
Nov 20253.2%
Oct 20253.2%
Sep 20253.1%
Aug 20253.1%
Jul 20253.0%
Jun 20253.0%
May 20253.1%
Apr 20253.2%
Mar 20253.2%
Feb 20253.2%
Jan 20253.2%
Dec 20243.2%
Nov 20243.0%
Oct 20242.9%
Sep 20242.9%
Aug 20243.0%
Jul 20242.9%
Jun 20242.9%
May 20242.9%
Apr 20243.0%
Mar 20242.8%
Feb 20242.8%
Jan 20242.8%
Dec 20232.8%
Nov 20232.6%
Oct 20232.5%
Sep 20232.6%
Aug 20232.5%
Jul 20232.5%
Jun 20232.5%
May 20232.5%
Apr 20232.5%
Mar 20232.4%
Feb 20232.5%
Jan 20232.4%
Dec 20222.4%
Nov 20222.3%
Oct 20222.2%
Sep 20222.1%
Aug 20222.1%
Jul 20222.1%
Jun 20222.0%
May 20222.0%
Apr 20222.0%
Mar 20222.1%
Feb 20222.2%
Jan 20222.1%
Dec 20212.1%
Nov 20212.0%
Oct 20211.9%
Sep 20211.9%
Aug 20212.0%
Jul 20212.2%
Jun 20212.4%
May 20212.4%
Apr 20212.5%
Mar 20212.5%
Feb 20212.4%
Jan 20212.3%
Dec 20202.3%
Nov 20202.3%
Oct 20202.4%
Sep 20202.3%
Aug 20202.3%
Jul 20202.3%
Jun 20202.4%
May 20202.3%
Apr 20202.3%
Mar 20202.3%
Feb 20202.3%
Jan 20202.5%
Dec 20192.5%
Nov 20192.6%
Oct 20192.6%
Sep 20192.6%
Aug 20192.5%
Jul 20192.4%
Jun 20192.4%
May 20192.5%
Apr 20192.4%
Mar 20192.5%
Feb 20192.4%
Jan 20192.3%
Dec 20182.2%
Nov 20182.2%
Oct 20182.2%
Sep 20182.1%
Aug 20182.1%
Jul 20182.2%
Jun 20182.3%
May 20182.3%
Apr 20182.4%
Mar 20182.3%
Feb 20182.4%
Jan 20182.3%
Dec 20172.5%
Nov 20172.5%
Oct 20172.6%
Sep 20172.7%
Aug 20172.7%
Jul 20172.5%
Jun 20172.5%
May 20172.4%
Apr 20172.4%
Mar 20172.4%
Feb 20172.3%
Jan 20172.3%
Dec 20162.4%
Nov 20162.5%
Oct 20162.7%
Sep 20162.6%
Aug 20162.7%
Jul 20162.6%
Jun 20162.6%
May 20162.5%
Apr 20162.4%
Mar 20162.4%
Feb 20162.4%
Jan 20162.3%
Dec 20152.5%
Nov 20152.4%
Oct 20152.4%
Sep 20152.2%
Aug 20152.3%
Jul 20152.3%
Jun 20152.3%
May 20152.3%
Apr 20152.3%
Mar 20152.3%
Feb 20152.3%
Jan 20152.3%

The comparison counts only the costs of owning you never get back: interest, running costs and what the deposit and purchase costs could earn elsewhere. Loan repayments build equity, so they are left out. So is any rise in the home's value, because nobody knows it in advance. Rents here are ONS's average of all private tenancies, new and continuing, which runs below what a new tenant pays; Scotland's are mostly advertised new lets, and its councils and Northern Ireland's take their nation's figure.

Other reports for Kensington and Chelsea

Next 12 months

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £881,298 and £1,223,617 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£1,052,457
Chance of a rise
13%

Affordability

At the average sale price, a home costs £1,204,072. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £5,555 a month. The UK sets no cap on the payment; no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income.

Payment, two incomes
63%
Payment, one income
127%

New homes

68.1% more homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
250
Per 1,000 residents
1.7

Foreign buyers

Figures for United Kingdom: Kensington and Chelsea has no reliable figures of its own.

Buyers living abroad bought 1.8% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q1 2025.

Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months
1.8%

Past cycles

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 20 times since 1995. The deepest began in February 2008.

Deepest fall
−28.1%
Recovery from the low
14 months

People and new homes

In 2025 the population fell by 1,517 while 20 homes were finished.

Homes finished, 2025
20
Population change, 2025
−1,517

Empty homes

19.2% of the 89,229 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
19.2%
Empty homes
17,155

Renovation

In 2025, -16% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
-16%