Canterbury and Whitstable - where to buy?

[TDDD333]

Hi all,

We’re moving to Kent and have narrowed down Canterbury and Whitstable as our favourite places to move, however it would be great to get an idea of where specifically would work best. Also, if any other towns in Kent with good train links to London, reasonable house prices and a lively-ish town centre exist, please let me know!

Our ideal criteria are:

• within a 25 min walk of city centre
• within 10 min cycle from Canterbury West or Whitstable stations
• within 45 min drive of Isle of Sheppey
• baby due in September so near good primary and secondary schools
• able to buy a nice 4 bedroom house for less than £700k with garden

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

St Stephens might work for you.

@notdaddycool thanks! We’re seeing a property on The Crescent this weekend which seems to be close to there.

I did see someone mention that Hales Place is a bit rough though and it’s nearby. Is that the case do you think?

Look into minnis bay

Hales place is near st stephens but v studenty.

I lived in Hales Place for a few years (as a student ) it had the same reputation then but I never had any issues at all. I agree with the pp that it's very studenty because of how walkable it is to UKC.

Are you set on Canterbury West because of the high speed rail? There are some decent properties on the Old Dover Rd/New Dover Rd area but it's further East than you would want if you're planning to commute on the faster train. If you'll be commuting I agree St Stephens will tick the boxes.

@babygrootandstarlord thanks for that!

I’ll only be going into London now and then so wanted to be within a reasonable distance. Old/new Dover road are definitely on our radar as we keep getting told it’s the place to be for us.

There seem to be so few properties that come up in Canterbury in terms of what we’re looking for. Do you know if that’s just now or is that always a problem?

I think that's been a problem for years. I'm not sure if it's because so much of the market is taken up with student rentals but I ended up buying significantly further out than we wanted (this was quite a long time ago though) because we couldn't find anything to even look at. It's almost like the mid range family type houses are in really short supply. There were fabulous city centre places that I couldn't afford (but not really suitable for families) or run down ex student houses, but not much in between. I haven't looked at the Canterbury housing market for several years though so I can't say that for certain now.

You will pay a premium in Whitstable. Canterbury nice bits around the hospital. Littlebourne, Wickhambreaux, the villages round Canterbury are worth a look

Whitstable is overated

We live in st stephens. There are a lack of family sized properties as they are all student houses. We monitored the market for a year to get a feel for what we wanted. We needed the station so that ruled out old dover road. When our house came on we bit off their hand to buy it and have seen nothing comparable on the market since. There are some lovely villages outside the town itself and you get more for your money if you dont need the station. Some nice houses in tankerton but i love being in town.

Agree Whitstable is over rated. Deal is very popular right now with people migrating from London and has some good properties, nice restaurants etc. Like any seaside town though, both can be pretty bleak & bloody cold in winter!

Canterbury I like a lot & is where I’d choose if you can hold on for the right property to come on the market (I’d agree demand thanks to Covid is outstripping supply!). Our school system in Kent is worth considering before any move, thanks to Grammars it’s harder to find good State Secondaries. If you have DC and are likely to go for State education, do look very carefully at catchment areas and performance stats. There is a government site that allows you to compare schools and look at all data and stats. There is no point buying somewhere wonderful to only find out its in a duff secondary catchment and you can’t count on DC passing the 11+.

We looked all over Kent and narrowed our final two places down to Canterbury and Folkestone (though I do have a v soft spot for Whitstable as I met my husband there). Within Canterbury we were most keen on Chartham - villagey feel but you could still walk into the centre in about half an hour along the river. Ultimately we bought in Folkestone as we decided being close to the sea was actually top of our wish list, so likewise with you I suppose it ultimately boils down to what you desire more - (small) city life, or beach side living?.

Oh and I would definitely investigate Folkestone. Thriving ‘Down From London’ community, Beautiful properties for your budget, spoiled for choice for activities to amuse a young family and always something going on. 700k would buy you a period detached in the West End a few minutes from beach and station. Schools largely v good too. We made the move a few years ago and never looked backed. The kids love it and we have a fantastic lifestyle but are still less than an hour into London if we fancy...

We lived in Hales Place for years (was a student but also a home owner) yes it was very studenty but I never thought of it as a rough area. That being said I wouldn't live there with a family (reason we moved) mainly due to the high number of students.
St Stephens is lovely and although very close to Hales place it is not nearly as studenty. I would be happy to live there now.

Hi OP, just wondering if you made a decision and if it has led to a move?