Buy-to-let in Medway
Yields, prices, demand and local risks for Medway, covering Chatham, Gillingham, Rochester.
Medway in figures
- Gross rental yield
- 5.3%
- On terraced houses across Medway
- Entry price, across its towns
- £240,000 to £291,000
- The cheapest postcode district's median sale
- Price move, 12 months
- +0.5%
- UK House Price Index, across Medway
- Price move, 10 years
- +36.4%
- UK House Price Index, across Medway
- Population
- 292,697
- Medway, +4.4% growth
- Terraced houses across Medway let for £1,250/mo against a median sale of £280,000 there: 5.3% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
- ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £1,232/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
- Prices across Medway rose 0.5% over the last year on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, which is measured for the whole local authority.
- Prices +36% over ten years (Medway)
- £14,300 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £240,000 buy-to-let
- 2 regeneration awards (Medway)
- 647 homes added across Medway
- Band D £2,329 (Medway)
- 1.1% long-term empty across Medway
- +17% five-year forecast for South East 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 Medway 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 Medway moved +36.4% over ten years on the UK House Price Index, and prices are at or near their highest.
Employee jobs across Medway moved +8.8% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).
46% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Chatham's postcode districts are below band C (29,231 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 £240,000 pays £14,300 in Stamp Duty Land Tax, including the 5% surcharge on additional homes.
The five-year forecast quoted above (Savills, South East) is a regional figure for South East as a whole, not a forecast for Medway, and Clarity does not rank on it.
Towns in Medway
| Town | Entry price | Gross yield | Tenant demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatham | £240,000 | 5.3%terraced houses | 3.7/10 |
| Gillingham | £260,000 | 5.3%terraced houses | 4/10 |
| Rochester | £291,000 | 5.3%terraced houses | 4.2/10 |
Each yield is Medway's, for the kind of home that town's prices point to, and the year's price move is measured across Medway as a whole, so towns pointing to the same kind of home share a yield.
The Medway report
The full report measures Medway 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 Medway report, free, with its headline figures, before you decide.
You own this report
The latest Clarity PDF report for Medway, monthly rebuilds included.
Read a full Liverpool report, free to see everything a report contains.
Compare it with everywhere else
The investment map ranks Medway against every other place we cover, on your own budget and strategy. Questions about the figures or about us are answered here.
Sources and further reading
- HM Land Registry: UK House Price Index
- HM Land Registry: Price Paid Data (England and Wales)
- Registers of Scotland: property market statistics (Scotland)
- ONS: Price Index of Private Rents
- ONS: Population estimates
- ONS: Business Register and Employment Survey
- MHCLG: Energy Performance of Buildings Data (England and Wales)
- HMRC: Stamp Duty Land Tax