The most expensive places to buy a house in Kent are revealed

KentOnline / KMTV

New data from the Office for National Statistics shows that there's a nearly more than £200,000 difference between the average prices of housing in Kent.

Transcript

00:00 Looking for a house in Kent? Well, it might cost you.

00:04 Data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average house price in Kent is nearly £40,000 more than the national average.

00:13 But what's the most expensive place for housing?

00:16 Well, Sevenoaks has an average house price of nearly £500,000.

00:21 While Swell and Thanet are right at the bottom.

00:24 And rent wise, while areas close to London like Dartford and Tunbridge have some of the highest rates of monthly rent in the county,

00:32 you can bag a monthly rental in coastal areas like Folkestone and Dover for less than £1,000 a month on average.

00:39 Medway is one of the lowest for house prices in the entirety of Kent.

00:44 But what do people here in Rochester think about what they could be paying for a house?

00:50 Do you want to take a guess at how much the average house costs here in Medway?

00:54 Erm, from £150,000, £100,000, over £200,000.

01:01 Under £200,000, nah, maybe a one bedroom flat.

01:06 Probably, well, £215,000.

01:10 About £350,000 isn't it?

01:12 £292,000.

01:15 £292,000.

01:17 I say over £200,000.

01:19 Almost £300,000.

01:21 Oh, that's a joke.

01:22 Many, many years ago you could buy the house for £20,000, £50,000.

01:28 Nowadays, to buy the house, £200,000, £300,000, £400,000.

01:33 This area, you know, obviously it's a working class area, always has been.

01:38 And people here are not managing to get on the ladder.

01:41 And yet people from London are coming down and taking the houses.

01:44 And the people from London are thinking, wow, these are great prices.

01:48 But they're not to the people here, to the residents.

01:51 You buy a house to reduce your cost of living, and that wasn't possible.

01:55 So we've had a break for a couple of years.

01:57 So it seems like people our age group are always going to be renting.

02:02 But some housing experts are more confident about the future than others.

02:07 I think we're becoming a nation where we're not massively concerned about home ownership now.

02:11 I think it's, you know, in the UK we've always said, you know, you need to own your own home.

02:14 I think people are accepting now that actually rental is the way forward.

02:18 And that may not be such a bad thing.

02:20 I think we've had it good for a long time with interest rates and so forth.

02:23 And I think, as I say, we're probably where we should be.

02:26 And I think you'll start to see it.

02:27 We're seeing it with rents now, they are levelling out.

02:29 There was a big sort of jump, you know, the houses were going up to £300, £400 a month.

02:33 Now it's starting to level.

02:36 And it's got to that mark.

02:38 And I think house prices have reduced a little bit as well.

02:40 So, yeah, I think we're going to steady the ship for some time now, for a good 18 months.

02:44 While average rents evening out may be a relief to those looking for somewhere on the market,

02:49 high prices still won't be welcomed by those at the bottom of Kent's increasingly slippery housing ladder.

02:56 Oliver Leeds of the Satch reporting for KNTV.

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