Property Prices in Hampstead
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data — median sold prices over a rolling 12-month window
What Your Budget Buys
Source: HM Land Registry.
Schools in Hampstead
🏫 Primary
🏛 Secondary
Data: Ofsted, 2026
Transport & Commute: Hampstead
Commute Times
Source: TfL Journey Planner, 2026. All times are station-to-station (boarding to alighting); add 5–10 minutes for walking to your nearest station and waiting.
Crime & Safety in Hampstead
Top Concern
Source: Metropolitan Police via data.police.uk · Population: ONS Census 2021 · Updated monthly
The Numbers
Hampstead records a residential crime rate of 100 (12 months to April 2026, data.police.uk) — 21% below the London average. It earns a PAL safety score of 68/100: a lower-crime area on the numbers, though not the lowest-crime corner of London, because a busy, affluent high street draws the footfall of a destination village rather than a purely residential pocket. For a wealthy village with a tourist-drawing high street, a rate below the London average is a reassuring figure, and it is a real part of the area’s appeal.
What the Data Tells You
The honest read is that Hampstead is a low-crime area, and that the leading crime category tells you something specific about why the offending happens rather than raising an alarm. The top category is Theft, at roughly 29% of recorded crime — not violence. That is the footfall pattern of a wealthy village high street that draws tourists and shoppers: opportunistic theft — pickpocketing and shoplifting around the village and the Heath — concentrates where the crowds and the money are. It is texture, not a warning — the profile of a busy, affluent retail village rather than of a nightlife district or a high-volume-crime area. A rate 21% below the London average, with theft as the lead category, is exactly the pattern you would expect here.
Street-Level Context
The pattern is quietly residential across most of the area, with the concentration on and around the shopping streets. What theft there is follows the crowds — the High Street, Heath Street and the Village core on a busy summer Saturday put tourists, shoppers, bags and opportunity in the same narrow lanes, which is why theft leads the category list. Move off the High Street into the residential terraces and villa streets, or up toward the Heath, and the picture is settled and low-incident. The closer you buy to the High Street and the tourist footfall, the more of that everyday retail texture you take on; the quieter streets a few minutes out feel firmly residential.
What Residents Say
Residents experience Hampstead as calm and, if anything, sedate — a quiet village that gets busy on summer weekend afternoons and empties again by evening. The practical takeaway for a buyer is simply to match precautions to a busy, affluent high street: opportunistic theft is the realistic risk, so keep an eye on bags and phones along the High Street and Heath Street on a crowded weekend, secure bikes properly, and keep nothing visible in parked cars. None of this is unusual; it is ordinary city sense in a place where the genuine below-average crime figure is the headline, not a caveat.
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Council Fees in Hampstead
Source: London Borough of Camden, 2026
Hampstead Community Character
Source: Google Maps, OS Open Greenspace & editorial research, 2026
A Georgian village above the Heath — resilient while prime central fell, fast on the Northern line, very expensive. Green space and schools carry it.
Hampstead is a genuine Georgian village on a steep hill on the edge of the 790-acre Hampstead Heath, in the London Borough of Camden (NW3, Zone 2).
Hampstead scores 0/100 on the PAL Score — our weighted rating across six core criteria that define what makes a London neighbourhood work for buyers.
How We Score
Each criterion is normalised on a 0–100 scale across every London neighbourhood we cover, so a score describes how Hampstead compares with the rest of the city, not an absolute mark.
The Breakdown
| Criterion | Score (/100) | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Green Space Access | 0 | Hampstead Heath, Kenwood and Golders Hill Park — the standout, and the single best reason to live here. |
| School Quality | 0 | 14 schools, all Good or Outstanding on the state picture; the fee-paying cluster the score can’t credit adds more. |
| Safety | 68 | 21% below the London average on recorded crime — a lower-crime area, theft-led off a busy, affluent high street rather than violent. |
| Transport Connectivity | 0 | Northern line direct — King’s Cross 11 min, Oxford Circus 14 — but a single deep Zone 2 branch, weak to Canary Wharf. |
| Local Amenities | 51 | The Village high street, independents and the Heath’s cafés give a genuine everyday offer. |
| Property Price Affordability | 0 | Very expensive — a median of N/A that hides a far dearer house market; the clear weakness. |
Scores use the PAL 0–100 scale, z-score normalised across all London neighbourhoods and displayed as integers. See the PAL Score Architecture for methodology.
What This Means
Green space (0/100) carries Hampstead, and rightly so — the 790-acre Heath, free Kenwood House and Golders Hill Park make this one of the best-served neighbourhoods in London for open space, and it is the single strongest reason to live here. Schools (0) sit close behind on the state Ofsted picture — 14 schools, all Good or Outstanding — though the score cannot credit the dense fee-paying cluster (UCS, South Hampstead High School, The Hall, Devonshire House) that carries the area’s schooling fame, so a private-school family gets even more than the number shows. Safety (68) is reassuring — 21% below the London average — with theft the lead category off a busy, affluent high street rather than any violent pattern. Transport (0) is a real if uneven strength: the Northern line runs direct to King’s Cross in 11 minutes and Oxford Circus in 14, but it is a single deep Zone 2 branch and Canary Wharf needs a change. Local amenities (51) reflect a genuine Village offer. Affordability (0) is the weakness that drags the total down hard — Hampstead is very expensive, and the N/A median understates a market where houses run to several million. The resulting 0/100 is a Below Average score, and the honest reading is that green space and schools carry it while affordability pulls it back: PAL scores value and connectivity, and Hampstead’s genuine strengths — the Heath, the schools, the resilience — are not the things that lift an affordability score.
💰 Value Assessment
At an average of N/A and about £1,121 per square foot (HM Land Registry, June 2026), Hampstead is priced for the Heath, the schools and a resilient prime address — and affordability is its clear weakness, value score 0. The most important thing to understand is that the N/A average is flat-heavy: flats average N/A, but terraced houses average N/A, semi-detached N/A and detached N/A, so a house buyer should ignore the headline. The 3.8% five-year rise is modest in isolation but genuinely resilient — prime central fell over the same period — while the 14.7% one-year figure in the rolling data is almost certainly a thin-market sold-mix artefact, not a real repricing.
Our Recommendation
Who's Hampstead for?
Hampstead is likely to suit you if:
- Want the Heath on your doorstep. The 790-acre Hampstead Heath — Parliament Hill’s protected views, the bathing ponds, the lido, ancient woodland, plus free Kenwood House — is the standout reason to live here (green-space score 0).
- Value a resilient prime address. Hampstead is up 3.8% over five years (HM Land Registry) while prime central fell — Kensington −25.9%, Notting Hill −5.4% on the same measure.
- Commute to the West End or King’s Cross. The Northern line runs direct — King’s Cross in 11 minutes, Oxford Circus in 14 — fast central access from a Zone 2 hillside.
- Are set on the private-school route. UCS, South Hampstead High School, The Hall and Devonshire House sit in one of London’s densest independent clusters — you’re buying proximity to fee-paying schools.
- Want a mansion-block or period-conversion flat. From around N/A, the flat stock — mansion blocks and Georgian/Victorian conversions — is the realistic way into the Village.
Think twice if you:
- Are watching affordability. Hampstead is very expensive — a median of N/A that understates a bimodal market, £1,121 per square foot, and a value score of 0, the weakest dimension by far.
- Expect a house near the headline. The N/A headline buys a flat; houses run from around N/A for a terrace to N/A at the top, and freehold houses are a scarce minority.
- Work in Canary Wharf. The Northern line is direct west and central but not to Docklands — Canary Wharf needs a change at minutes, the one weak direction.
- Rely on the state-school sector. Nine of the 14 schools are fee-paying; the state Ofsted picture is strong, but the area’s schooling fame rests on schools you pay for.
- Want lively evenings. This is a sedate village that turns in early — a film at the Everyman and an early dinner, not late bars; for more you head to Camden or into town.
The Real Picture
Hampstead is a genuine Georgian village on a steep hill on the edge of one of London’s great green spaces, and it feels like it — quiet, wealthy, international, sedate rather than lively, busy with tourists on a summer Saturday and dark and still by evening. You buy the Heath, the village and a prime address that held its value while prime central fell, and you accept, in return, prices that make affordability the weak point and a headline median that hides a market split between flats and rare, very expensive houses. It settles people who prize the Heath and the calm over the price tag. It frustrates anyone wanting a bargain, a house near the headline, or a buzz after ten.
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