In Congestion Zone: No – 3.6 miles outside.
Parking and Traffic: Permits & Meters. Kensington Church St & High St gets congested.
Sought After Streets: Kensington High Street, Queens Gate and Gloucester Road.
Description: This place is an international address. Famous for Kensington Palace prices are very expensive. For this hotspot I direct you only to buy the studios and 1 bed flats. Here there are places for sub £300k and you will have no shortage of tenants. There is strong demand from not only UK residents but also from overseas. I would suggest that you use the services of an agent as they will have the contacts to these overseas tenants who usually pay over the odds.
Service charges on these flats may be high and can sometimes halve your overall profit if you’re not careful. I was tempted to purchase a small studio in Kensington High St for £195,000 about 6 months ago yielding around 8% but when looking at the service charges it dropped the yield to 6%.
There are absolutely no no-go spots in Kensington and surrounding areas so wherever you see something that is cheap – go for it! There are a number of short-leased flats, less than 50 years, that are available. The law is changing with regards to short leases making it possible to renew the lease at the end of the term for a minimal fee. Speak to your solicitor before entering in to this type of market. Its very risky and there are investors out there (very rich ones!) that are playing this game that can afford to lose.