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Tower Hamlets · report

Buy or rent in Tower Hamlets

Owning the average home costs less each month than renting it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is the average of all private tenancies. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.

Rent per month
£2,462
Owning per month
£2,109

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £447,950 and the average private rent of £2,462 a month in Tower Hamlets, and a mortgage rate of 4.6%.

Assumptions
4.6
1
Buildings insurance, maintenance, and any service charge and ground rent. Council tax is paid by tenants too, so it is left out.
3
What the deposit and purchase costs could earn if invested instead.
7
Stamp duty (land transaction tax in Wales, LBTT in Scotland), conveyancing, survey and lender's fees, paid once.

Owning costs less each month than renting.

Rent a month
£2,462
Owning a month, not recovered
£2,109
Interest
£1,545
Running costs
£373
Return given up
£190
Cash out a month, if buying
£2,440

Gross rental yield in Tower Hamlets

A year's rent as a share of the average sale price, month by month. Higher means rent is dear compared with buying.

Show the numbers
PeriodTower Hamlets
Aug 20266.6%
Jul 20266.5%
Jun 20266.3%
May 20266.4%
Apr 20266.3%
Mar 20266.3%
Feb 20266.2%
Jan 20266.2%
Dec 20256.0%
Nov 20255.8%
Oct 20255.7%
Sep 20255.6%
Aug 20255.5%
Jul 20255.4%
Jun 20255.4%
May 20255.5%
Apr 20255.4%
Mar 20255.5%
Feb 20255.5%
Jan 20255.5%
Dec 20245.4%
Nov 20245.2%
Oct 20245.2%
Sep 20245.2%
Aug 20245.2%
Jul 20245.2%
Jun 20245.3%
May 20245.5%
Apr 20245.5%
Mar 20245.4%
Feb 20245.3%
Jan 20245.2%
Dec 20235.2%
Nov 20235.1%
Oct 20235.0%
Sep 20234.9%
Aug 20235.0%
Jul 20234.9%
Jun 20234.8%
May 20234.7%
Apr 20234.6%
Mar 20234.5%
Feb 20234.4%
Jan 20234.4%
Dec 20224.3%
Nov 20224.1%
Oct 20224.0%
Sep 20223.9%
Aug 20223.9%
Jul 20224.0%
Jun 20223.9%
May 20223.9%
Apr 20223.9%
Mar 20223.9%
Feb 20223.8%
Jan 20223.7%
Dec 20213.7%
Nov 20213.8%
Oct 20213.8%
Sep 20213.8%
Aug 20213.8%
Jul 20213.9%
Jun 20213.9%
May 20214.0%
Apr 20214.0%
Mar 20214.1%
Feb 20214.2%
Jan 20214.5%
Dec 20204.4%
Nov 20204.4%
Oct 20204.4%
Sep 20204.4%
Aug 20204.5%
Jul 20204.6%
Jun 20204.6%
May 20204.5%
Apr 20204.4%
Mar 20204.3%
Feb 20204.4%
Jan 20204.5%
Dec 20194.6%
Nov 20194.6%
Oct 20194.6%
Sep 20194.6%
Aug 20194.7%
Jul 20194.8%
Jun 20194.8%
May 20194.8%
Apr 20194.7%
Mar 20194.8%
Feb 20194.8%
Jan 20194.7%
Dec 20184.7%
Nov 20184.7%
Oct 20184.7%
Sep 20184.6%
Aug 20184.6%
Jul 20184.5%
Jun 20184.5%
May 20184.4%
Apr 20184.5%
Mar 20184.6%
Feb 20184.6%
Jan 20184.6%
Dec 20174.4%
Nov 20174.3%
Oct 20174.4%
Sep 20174.5%
Aug 20174.6%
Jul 20174.6%
Jun 20174.6%
May 20174.6%
Apr 20174.4%
Mar 20174.4%
Feb 20174.3%
Jan 20174.4%
Dec 20164.4%
Nov 20164.4%
Oct 20164.4%
Sep 20164.4%
Aug 20164.5%
Jul 20164.5%
Jun 20164.6%
May 20164.4%
Apr 20164.3%
Mar 20164.2%
Feb 20164.3%
Jan 20164.3%
Dec 20154.4%
Nov 20154.4%
Oct 20154.5%
Sep 20154.5%
Aug 20154.5%
Jul 20154.4%
Jun 20154.4%
May 20154.5%
Apr 20154.6%
Mar 20154.6%
Feb 20154.5%
Jan 20154.5%

The comparison counts only the costs of owning you never get back: interest, running costs and what the deposit and purchase costs could earn elsewhere. Loan repayments build equity, so they are left out. So is any rise in the home's value, because nobody knows it in advance. Rents here are ONS's average of all private tenancies, new and continuing, which runs below what a new tenant pays; Scotland's are mostly advertised new lets, and its councils and Northern Ireland's take their nation's figure.

Other reports for Tower Hamlets

Next 12 months

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £389,369 and £461,045 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£425,207
Chance of a rise
21%

Affordability

At the average sale price, a home costs £447,950. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £2,067 a month. The UK sets no cap on the payment; no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income.

Payment, two incomes
24%
Payment, one income
48%

New homes

28.5% more homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
1,530
Per 1,000 residents
4.6

Foreign buyers

Figures for United Kingdom: Tower Hamlets has no reliable figures of its own.

Buyers living abroad bought 1.8% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q1 2025.

Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months
1.8%

Past cycles

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 11 times since 1995. The deepest began in April 2008.

Deepest fall
−25.1%
Recovery from the low
50 months

People and new homes

In 2025 the population fell by 1,855 while 1,000 homes were finished.

Homes finished, 2025
1,000
Population change, 2025
−1,855

Empty homes

8.1% of the 134,473 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
8.1%
Empty homes
10,905

Renovation

In 2025, 3% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
3%