Kent’s housing market is splitting in two
Rents rise while house prices stall, lingering water outages and the week’s other Kent stories
Kent’s latest housing figures show a market splitting in two, with house prices falling in much of the county while private rents continue to rise everywhere. Plus more water disruption, Darent Valley Hospital’s ongoing tap water problems, an AI data centre proposal in Canterbury, planning updates, local rows, and a boat-based property of the week...
Kent’s housing market is splitting in two
The Kent housing market is cooling, unless you rent.
That is the uncomfortable picture in the latest housing figures released by the Office for National Statistics. Across much of the county, house prices have stalled or begun to fall. In seven of Kent’s 13 council areas, the average house price is now lower than it was a year ago.
For renters, there is no such pause. Private rents are up everywhere.
Thanet has seen the sharpest fall in house prices in Kent, with the average price down 4.4% over the past year to £260,951. Dartford is down 3.3%, Gravesham is down 1.9%, Tonbridge and Malling is down 1.7%, and Dover is down 1.3%.
Even Sevenoaks, still comfortably Kent’s most expensive district, is slightly down on the year. Its average house price remains £533,529, which is less a housing market than a warning label.
But the rental market is moving in the opposite direction.
In Folkestone and Hythe, average private rents have risen by 8.7% in a year, the fastest increase in Kent. The average monthly rent there is now £1,145. That is still below Sevenoaks, where the average rent is £1,785, and Dartford, where it is £1,559, but it is a sharp rise in a district often treated as one of Kent’s more affordable coastal options.
Gravesham rents are up 6.7%, reaching £1,324 a month. Thanet is up 5.9%, despite having the lowest average house price in Kent. Dover is up 5.8%, Canterbury is up 5.3%, and Tunbridge Wells is up 5.2%.
Kent’s cheaper places to buy are not necessarily becoming cheaper places to live.
In Thanet, buyers are paying less than they were a year ago, but renters are paying more. In Gravesham, house prices have fallen while rents have climbed sharply. In Dover, the average house price has dipped, but the average rent is still nearly £1,000 a month.
A weaker sales market does not automatically help renters. Higher interest rates have made mortgages harder to access, deposits remain brutal, and more people are left renting for longer. At the same time, some landlords are leaving the market, reducing the number of homes available to rent. Demand stays high, supply stays tight, and the pressure lands on monthly rents.
Folkestone and Hythe now stands out most clearly. Its house prices are up 2% over the year, but rents are rising more than four times as fast. Folkestone has spent years being sold as Kent’s creative coastal comeback story. For renters, that story now comes with a higher monthly bill.
The old Kent housing map has not disappeared. Sevenoaks remains in another universe, with an average house price more than double that of Thanet. Tunbridge Wells sits at £449,883, while Tonbridge and Malling is just over £402,000.
But the lower end of the map is changing too. Thanet, Dover, Swale and Medway remain cheaper places to buy by Kent standards. That does not mean they are cheap places to live. Medway’s average rent is now £1,237. Thanet’s is now £1,108, while Swale comes in at £1,091.
The county is not seeing a simple housing crash, nor a simple boom. It is seeing a split market.
For some homeowners, prices have softened. For would-be buyers, that may create a little more room than during the pandemic frenzy, though higher mortgage costs still eat away at much of the benefit.
The practical effect is grimly simple. The places that once served as Kent’s release valve are becoming less useful as escape routes. Moving further down the line, further along the coast, or further from London no longer guarantees the kind of savings it once did.
That leaves renters with fewer good choices. Stay put and absorb the increase. Move and risk encountering the same problem elsewhere. Try to buy and run into mortgage rates, deposits, and prices that remain high even after a modest cooling.
Kent’s housing market is not collapsing. Instead, it is narrowing. Sales might be cooling, but exits from renting are still being blocked.
The Kent Current is now on WhatsApp.
We’ve launched a WhatsApp channel for Kent Current. We won’t flood it with posts, but we will use it to share new stories and occasional major updates from across the county.
If you’d like our journalism somewhere a little closer to your lock screen, you can follow along there.
Water woes
- More than 3,000 homes in Kent are still facing no or intermittent water supply, a week on from the heatwave that triggered the issues.
- Southern Water has been moving tanker loads of water from Istead Rise to Thanet to keep supplies running.
- One Cranbrook care home has been without water for five days and has resorted to washing residents with wet wipes.
- South East Water will be devastated to learn they have lost the faith of Ashford MP Sojan Joseph.
- You know things are getting serious when things reach the Guardian's letters page.
- Reassuringly, South East Water have said they 'can't guarantee' this won't happen again.
Council matters
Meetings this week:
- Medway: Cabinet will meet on Tuesday to discuss adult education, the refurbishment of Gun Wharf, resources for local government reorganisation, Medway's new care home, and more.
- Thanet: Cabinet meets on Tuesday to discuss the Local Plan, housing strategy, and more.
- Tonbridge & Malling: Cabinet meets on Tuesday to discuss Section 106 funding, affordable housing, and more.
- Kent: Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will discuss structural changes to the NHS in Kent, fertility treatments, the recent meningitis outbreak, and more on Wednesday.
- Thanet: Boundary and Electoral Arrangements Working Party will discuss proposals for a Margate Town Council on Thursday.
New planning applications:
- Ashford: 30 new homes in Smarden.
- Dartford: Bluewater has applied to keep running its winter wonderland until 2029.
Keeping track of Kent properly takes time, travel and a fair amount of patience. Kent Current only exists because some readers choose to support that work. An annual subscription costs £1.15 a week and helps keep it going.
In brief
📱 TikTok influencers from Medway are being blamed for recent public disorder in Broadstairs.
👷 Charlie Elphicke, the former Conservative MP for Dover who was convicted of sexual assault, has been declared bankrupt and is now working as a builder.
🚓 Reform county councillor Thomas Mallon has described an assault while campaigning that left him with nerve damage.
🟢 A councillor in Ashford has defected from Labour to the Greens.
⚪ Meanwhile, Dartford's only Green councillor has left the party to sit as an independent.
🧁 People running unlicensed businesses in Maidstone are outraged to discover they may need to obtain a licence.
🚛 Police stopped a 'suspicious HGV' in Hythe and found more than £1m of cocaine in it.
🚧 Work has finally started to repair the Road of Remembrance in Folkestone, which has been closed since 2024 following a landslip.
🏥 Parts of Darent Valley Hospital still don't have drinking water, a month after issues began.
👩💻 A tribunal has ruled that Gravesham Borough Council discriminated against an agoraphobic employee by not letting them work from home.
🏭 An AI data centre could be built in Canterbury.
🦇 Plans for an amphitheatre at Canterbury Castle have been scuppered by bats.
🛍️ Asda Living in Maidstone is set to become a George, which is sure to be a very different experience.
🇯🇵 It's unclear how this is a Local Democracy Reporting Service story, but the Japanese ambassador recently had a great time in Folkestone.
🦀 Time Out has named the Crab Museum in Margate as the best museum in the country. The Micro Museum in Ramsgate also comes in at number four.
🐦⬛ The Dartford Warbler has made a stunning comeback, 60 years after nearly becoming extinct.
Property of the week
This week’s property is not a house at all, but a 60ft Eurocruiser with a mooring lease on Strand Street in Sandwich, offered at offers in excess of £130,000, which is one way to solve the small matter of the local housing market. Inside, you get the liveaboard basics, including two double berths plus a pull-out double, two bathrooms, central heating and hot water, and a full kitchen setup, along with a rear deck for sitting outside and watching the river go past. The listing is also very keen to tell you it can cross the Channel, which is either an exciting bonus or a feature you will spend the rest of your life carefully not using.
Events this week
🎤 Wed 3 Jun - Mark Thomas: 40 in Stand Up Years // Political comedian marks four decades of being a thorn in the side of the establishment. The Alex, Faversham. Tickets £15. Also at Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury on 4 Nov and The Astor, Deal on 6 Nov.
🎤 Thu 4 Jun - Mark Watson: Before It Overtakes Us // Award-winning comedian ponders the future of humanity. Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone. Tickets £25.
📜 5 - 6 Jun - Rainham Poetry Festival // Two day festival of poetry, with special guest Lemn Sissay. St Margaret's Church, Rainham. Free.
🎤 Sun 7 Jun - Richard Ayoade: Afterthoughts // Deadpan comedian shares stories from his new book. Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. Tickets from £33.
Footnotes
Follow us elsewhere: Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and now WhatsApp for new story alerts.
