Pimlico is the stucco grid Thomas Cubitt laid out south of Victoria in the 1830s and 1840s on the same plan as Belgravia, built at the same time. The streets look the same because they are the same; the difference is the railway that cut them apart and the price, two-thirds of Belgravia’s for a comparable flat. For a Gulf buyer who knows Belgravia and finds its prices difficult, Pimlico and Westminster are the districts to walk next.
Areas
Pimlico and Westminster: a property guide for Gulf buyers who want Belgravia’s streets at two-thirds of the price
The district
Pimlico and Westminster suit a Gulf buyer who wants Belgravia’s white stucco streets at about two-thirds of the price. A one-bedroom conversion flat is £550,000 to £850,000, a two-bedroom £850,000 to £1,500,000, a three-bedroom lateral flat on a square £1,600,000 to £3,000,000, and a stucco house £3,000,000 to £6,000,000, at £1,000 to £1,500 per square foot. Gross yields are 3.5 to 4.5 per cent, a point above Belgravia. The catch: avoid the Belgrave Road and Lupus Street traffic and the streets nearest Victoria Station’s hotels.
Pimlico is bounded by Victoria Station and Buckingham Palace Road to the north, the river to the south, Vauxhall Bridge Road to the east and Chelsea Bridge Road to the west: a grid of white stucco terraces and garden squares (Eccleston, Warwick, St George’s), almost entirely conservation area, largely on the Grosvenor Estate’s leases in the west and the Church Commissioners’ in parts, with Dolphin Square’s 1930s block on the river and the Churchill Gardens council estate at the south-west corner.
Westminster's quiet residential quarter behind Parliament
Westminster’s residential streets east of Vauxhall Bridge Road, around Vincent Square, Smith Square and the Georgian streets of Lord North Street and Cowley Street, are the quiet quarter behind Parliament where politicians have lived for two centuries. The City of Westminster is the borough for both.
Pimlico and Westminster property prices in autumn 2026
The indicative ranges for autumn 2026:
Indicative prices in Pimlico and Westminster, autumn 2026
| Property | Indicative price, autumn 2026 |
|---|---|
| One-bedroom flat in a stucco conversion | £550,000 to £850,000 |
| Two-bedroom flat in a conversion or Dolphin Square | £850,000 to £1,500,000 |
| Three-bedroom lateral flat on a square | £1,600,000 to £3,000,000 |
| Stucco house, four to five bedrooms, Pimlico | £3,000,000 to £6,000,000 |
| Georgian house, Smith Square or Lord North Street | £5,000,000 to £10,000,000 |
| Per square foot | £1,000 to £1,500; the squares and Westminster’s Georgian streets £1,600 to £2,200 |
Source: Land Registry sales and current listings, October 2026; ONS local housing figures, July–August 2026.
The Office for National Statistics puts Westminster’s average price at about £877,000 in July 2026. The same stucco house on the Belgravia side of the railway is £8,000,000 to £15,000,000; the discount for the Pimlico postcode has narrowed over twenty years and is still about a third.
Pimlico and Westminster rents and gross rental yields
A two-bedroom flat lets for £3,000 to £4,500 a month, a three-bedroom on a square for £4,500 to £7,000, and a house for £8,000 to £15,000; Westminster’s mean private rent across the borough was about £3,200 in August 2026. Gross yields are 3.5 to 4.5 per cent, above Belgravia’s by a point, with a tenant market of parliamentary and civil service staff, embassy families from the Belgravia legations, doctors from the Chelsea and Westminster and St Thomas’ hospitals, and corporate tenants at Victoria’s offices. Dolphin Square’s 1,200 flats set the rental floor for the district. Our guide on London rental yields by area gives the borough figure.
Who buys property in Pimlico and Westminster
Buyers priced out of Belgravia and Chelsea who want the same architecture; professional families; parliamentary and diplomatic buyers; Gulf families who want a Belgravia address’s neighbour for a child at Imperial or King’s or for a London base near the mosque at Regent’s Park by the Victoria line; and investors for the yield and the tenant depth. The Gulf presence is thinner than in Knightsbridge and Bayswater and growing; the district’s embassies (Belgravia’s are a walk) and the Westminster Cathedral Arabic-speaking community around Victoria give it a Middle Eastern texture the price does not reflect.
Best streets and squares to buy in Pimlico
Eccleston Square, Warwick Square and St George’s Square for the garden squares and the lateral flats; Cambridge Street, Alderney Street and the streets between Belgrave Road and the river for houses; Dolphin Square for a serviced flat with a porter, a pool and a river view at the lowest price per foot in the district; Moreton Terrace and the Moreton streets for character.
Westminster streets to buy on, and ones to avoid
In Westminster, Vincent Square’s houses facing the Westminster School playing fields, Smith Square and Lord North Street for Georgian houses that rarely sell, and the mansion blocks of Ashley Gardens and Morpeth Terrace by the cathedral. Avoid the flats on Belgrave Road and Lupus Street’s traffic, and the streets nearest Victoria Station’s hotels.
Transport links from Pimlico and Victoria to Heathrow and Gatwick
Victoria Station: Gatwick in thirty minutes by the express, the Victoria line to Oxford Circus in four minutes and to the mosque at Regent’s Park via Warren Street in ten, the District and Circle lines, and the coach station; Pimlico station on the Victoria line in the south; Heathrow by the Piccadilly line from Green Park or by car in forty-five minutes. Belgravia is a ten-minute walk across the railway, Sloane Square fifteen, Harrods twenty-five. The river path runs to Battersea Park and Chelsea; the bridges to Battersea Power Station’s new district. Parking is by permit; some houses have garages.
Schools, universities and hospitals near Pimlico and Westminster
Westminster School, Westminster Cathedral Choir School and Francis Holland Sloane Square are in or beside the district; Eaton House and Hill House in Belgravia and Chelsea are a walk; the French Lycée is twenty minutes by the District line. Imperial is twenty minutes by the District line from Victoria, King’s twenty by bus along the river, LSE fifteen by the Victoria line, which makes Pimlico a sensible student-flat district for a family that prefers it to Bloomsbury. Hospitals: St Thomas’ across Lambeth Bridge, the Chelsea and Westminster twenty minutes west, the Lister at Chelsea Bridge, the Royal Brompton; the Harley Street clinics twenty minutes by the Victoria line.
Our view on buying in Pimlico versus Belgravia
Pimlico is Belgravia’s architecture at Belgravia’s price of fifteen years ago, with a better yield and a deeper tenant market; a lateral flat on one of its squares or a stucco house on a quiet street is the firm’s usual answer to a family that wants the white terraces and has £2,000,000 to £5,000,000 rather than £5,000,000 to £15,000,000.
The leases are the estates’, long and well managed; the conservation area keeps the streets as they are; and the district is a walk from everything the family wants on the other side of the railway. Dolphin Square is the exception for a family that wants a serviced flat with a pool and does not mind 1930s rooms. The firm would not buy on the Belgrave Road frontage or beside the station.
Sources: Housing prices in Westminster (ONS, July–August 2026) · UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry) · Grosvenor Estate: Belgravia and Pimlico. Checked against the Office for National Statistics local housing figures; prices, rents and yields are indicative ranges for that date, drawn from Land Registry sales and current listings, and vary by street and square. General information, not advice on a particular purchase. Figures verified 14 October 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about Pimlico and Westminster
The railway, the station and the social history: Belgravia was always grander and Pimlico was always the clerks’ Belgravia. The gap has narrowed from half to a third in twenty years and the firm expects it to narrow further.
For a serviced flat with a porter, a pool and a river view at the lowest price per foot in SW1, yes; the leases and the service charges have a history worth reading, and the flats are small. Our service charges guide explains what to check.
The London Central Mosque at Regent’s Park is ten to fifteen minutes by the Victoria line to Warren Street and a walk, or twenty minutes by car.
In autumn 2026 a one-bedroom flat in a stucco conversion is £550,000 to £850,000, a two-bedroom in a conversion or Dolphin Square £850,000 to £1,500,000, and a three-bedroom lateral flat on a square £1,600,000 to £3,000,000. Prices per square foot run £1,000 to £1,500, rising to £1,600 to £2,200 on the squares and Westminster’s Georgian streets. The ONS puts Westminster’s average price at about £877,000 in July 2026.
A four- to five-bedroom stucco house in Pimlico is £3,000,000 to £6,000,000; a Georgian house on Smith Square or Lord North Street is £5,000,000 to £10,000,000, and these rarely sell. The same stucco house on the Belgravia side of the railway is £8,000,000 to £15,000,000, so the Pimlico discount is still about a third.
A two-bedroom flat lets for £3,000 to £4,500 a month, a three-bedroom on a square for £4,500 to £7,000, and a house for £8,000 to £15,000. Gross yields are 3.5 to 4.5 per cent, a point above Belgravia. Westminster’s mean private rent across the borough was about £3,200 in August 2026. Our guide to London rental yields by area gives the borough figure.
Parliamentary and civil service staff, embassy families from the Belgravia legations, doctors from the Chelsea and Westminster and St Thomas’ hospitals, and corporate tenants at Victoria’s offices. Dolphin Square’s 1,200 flats set the rental floor for the district, which gives a landlord a deeper tenant market than Belgravia offers.
Eccleston Square, Warwick Square and St George’s Square for garden squares and lateral flats; Cambridge Street, Alderney Street and the streets between Belgrave Road and the river for houses; Moreton Terrace for character. In Westminster, Vincent Square facing the school playing fields, Smith Square and Lord North Street for Georgian houses, and the mansion blocks of Ashley Gardens and Morpeth Terrace by the cathedral.
Victoria Station gives Gatwick in thirty minutes by the express, and Heathrow is reached by the Piccadilly line from Green Park or by car in forty-five minutes. The Victoria line reaches Oxford Circus in four minutes. Belgravia is a ten-minute walk across the railway, Sloane Square fifteen and Harrods twenty-five. Parking is by permit, and some houses have garages.
Yes, for a family that prefers it to Bloomsbury. Imperial is twenty minutes by the District line from Victoria, King’s twenty by bus along the river and LSE fifteen by the Victoria line. Westminster School, Westminster Cathedral Choir School and Francis Holland Sloane Square are in or beside the district, and the French Lycée is twenty minutes by the District line.
