Kensington & Chelsea homes worth £11,635 per square metre

The value of homes in Kensingston & Chelsea has increased by £781 per square metre over the past 12 months, according to new research by Halifax.

The mortgage lender’s House Price Per Square Metre 2015 Survey reveals property values in Kensington & Chelsea are the highest in the UK. At an average price of £11,635 per square metre, properties in this borough cost nearly six times the national average of £2,033.

And homes in Kensington & Chelsea are more than 12 times more expensive than Aberdare in Wales – the cheapest part of the UK to buy a home, where residential property costs an average of just £910 per square metre.

A year ago, the Halifax’s survey revealed that the average price of a square metre of property in Kensington & Chelsea’s was £10,854 – 13 times the value of the same area of floorspace in Britain’s cheapest area, Stanley in County Durham. There, a square metre cost £818.

Property value specialists at Halifax report that there has been a marked widening in property prices per square metre between southern England and the rest of Britain since 1995. Prices per square metre have risen by 388% in Great London compared with a national increase of 227%.

After Kensington & Chelsea, the areas where residential homes cost the most per square metre are Westminster – which includes Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge – where the average is £9,571, then Camden, where the average is £8,829.

The list is completed by Hqammersmith and Fulham (£8,306), Islington (£7,399), Wandsworth (£6,761), Richmond upon Thames (£6,265), Hackney (£6,196), Tower Hamlets (£5,980) and Southwark (£5,962).

There are, however, pockets outside southern England where property fetches a high price per square metre, including Altrincham in Cheshire, a number of towns in Warwickshire and the Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

In comparison, all 10 of the towns with the lowest prices per square metre are outside the south of England. Four of those towns are in Scotland, three are in Wales, while the English towns with the lowest home prices on a per square metre basis are Accrington in Lancashire (£990), Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire (£1,022) and the Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool (£1,052).

According to Halifax, the average home included in its index in Greater London measures 90 square metres, while in Wales the typical property is 117 square metres.

Craig McKinlay, Mortgages Director at Halifax, comments: “House price per square metre is a useful measure for property value comparison because it helps to adjust for differences in the size and type of properties between locations.

“There has been a clear widening in the gap between southern England, particularly London, and the rest of the country over the past 20 years – a trend that has continued during the last five years.”

While property in London’s prime boroughs may cost considerably more than anywhere else in London, the value of these investments is set to rise further as London’s population increases and the supply of good homes to buy or rent fails to meet demand.

As a well-established estate & letting agents covering Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Pimlico, South Kensington, Mayfair, and Westminster, Best Gapp can help you locate your ideal property. For more information, contact our office in Belgravia.