Kensington and Chelsea homeowners selling homes for record average £680K profits

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

Homeowners in Kensington and Chelsea are selling their homes for a record £680,000 more than they bought them for – topping the UK as one of the most profitable places to sell up, according to new research.

But one campaign group has warned this is terrible news for first-time buyers in London.

The findings are part of a sweeping study on house price changes across the UK, which showed that sellers on average broke the £100k profit barrier for the first time in 2022.

The regular homeowner in England and Wale sold their humble abodes for 52 per cent more than they bought it for, according to data released by property agents Hamptons.

Well-to-do Kensington and Chelsea topped the list when it came to the biggest gains, with the average household selling for £684,510 more than what was paid for it a decade ago, equalling a 60 per cent increase.

London is the only region where every borough registered a gain of £100k for homes sold in 2022.

According to the data, the average seller bagged £219k – or 57 per cent – more than what they bought their home for after owning it on average for just under a decade.

There were 17 boroughs where seller gains exceeded £200k.

Those selling flats cut a smaller but healthy margin, selling up for 29 per cent more than they paid. The average flat owner tends to sell up after five years.

But this is far from good news for prospective first-time buyers in the capital, said Freddie Poser, who runs PricedOut – a campaign group fighting for more affordable housing across the country.

He said: “This is yet another symptom of a worsening housing crisis. These house price ‘gains’ mean that first time buyers can’t hope to get on the housing ladder – especially in areas like Kensington and Chelsea.

“Without building more housing in the highest demand areas prices will continue to spiral and our housing crisis will only get worse.”

London already faces some of the highest house prices in the country. Kensington and Chelsea council could not comment, arguing that private property prices are dictated by market forces and are outside of the council’s control.

Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at Hamptons, said: “Soaring house price growth has boosted the money homeowners have made when they sell.

“House price gains are primarily driven by two factors – the length of time people have owned and the point at which they bought and sold in the house price cycle. 2022’s record-breaking gains were boosted by Covid-induced changes, with a rising share of sales coming from larger family homes that were typically bought before the financial crisis.

“While there are a number of uncertainties weighing on the market, even if prices do fall this year, it’s likely that over 90 per cent of sellers will still sell at a profit. The other 10% will mostly be flat owners who bought in the last five or so years.”

Pictured top: Spear Mews in Kensington and Chelsea (Picture: Onofre_Bouvila/Wikimedia Commons)