Buy-to-let in Kensington and Chelsea

Kensington and Chelsea in figures

Gross rental yield

4.3%

On flats across Kensington and Chelsea

Entry price

£650,000

The cheapest postcode district's median sale

Price move, 12 months

-8.2%

UK House Price Index, across Kensington and Chelsea

Price move, 10 years

-7.0%

14.4% below the year to September 2022, across Kensington and Chelsea

Homes below EPC band C

48%

Of lodged certificates, a proxy for the condition of the stock

Population

145,734

Kensington and Chelsea, +0.6% growth

• Flats across Kensington and Chelsea let for £3,070/mo against a median sale of £850,000 there: 4.3% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
• ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £3,690/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
• Prices here moved -8.2% over the last year and -7.0% over ten years on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, and sit 14.4% below their highest twelve months (to September 2022): part of the yield here is prices that fell, not rents that rose.

• Prices −7% over ten years, 14% below the year to September 2022
• 48% of EPCs below band C
• £55,000 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £650,000 buy-to-let
• Regeneration zone
• 408 homes added
• 38% private rented (2021 census)
• 91% gigabit broadband
• 91% of 21 graded schools good or better
• Band D £1,667
• 2.3% long-term empty
• +14% five-year forecast for London as a whole (Savills), not this area

These figures are from Clarity's monthly ranking dataset, one method across every place so they compare. The Kensington and Chelsea report measures the area in more depth over its own twelve months, so its figures are the ones to quote.

What sits behind the figures

Prices across Kensington and Chelsea moved −7.0% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and the latest year's average is 14.4% below its highest, the year to September 2022. A gross yield is rent over price, so part of the 4.3% here comes from prices that fell rather than rents that rose. Clarity's ranking takes the annualised fall, 0.7 points a year, off the yield before scoring it.

Employee jobs across Kensington and Chelsea moved −3.8% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).

48% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Kensington and Chelsea's postcode districts are below band C (82,552 certificates). Clarity measures areas rather than individual homes, so this is the share of the local stock likely to need energy-efficiency work before it meets a band C standard, not a survey of any one property.

A buy-to-let at £650,000 pays £55,000 in Stamp Duty Land Tax, including the 5% surcharge on additional homes.

The five-year forecast quoted above (Savills, London) is a regional figure for London as a whole, not a forecast for Kensington and Chelsea, and Clarity does not rank on it.

The Kensington and Chelsea report

The full report measures Kensington and Chelsea from its own sales: sold prices and rents for each type of home, the year's price move, crime per resident and worker, flood risk, planning designations, housing delivery and regeneration funding, with a worked buy-to-let deal on your own budget. This edition was built in October 2026.

Read the cover of the Kensington and Chelsea report, free, with its headline figures, before you decide.

Read a full Liverpool report, free to see everything a report contains.

Compare it with everywhere else

The investment map ranks Kensington and Chelsea against every other place we cover, on your own budget and strategy. Questions about the figures or about us are answered here.