Tower Hamlets house prices increased in January

House prices increased by 1.5% in Tower Hamlets in January, new figures show.

But the boost does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 5.1% annual decline – the worst in the UK.

The average Tower Hamlets house price in January was £438,375, Land Registry figures show – a 1.5% increase on December.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across London, where prices decreased 1.8%, and Tower Hamlets outperformed the 0.4% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Tower Hamlets fell by £24,000 – putting the area bottom of the UK’s local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Islington, where property prices increased on average by 13.4%, to £760,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Tower Hamlets spent an average of £425,000 on their property – £23,000 less than a year ago, and £20,000 less than in January 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £452,000 on average in January – 6.3% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Tower Hamlets compare?

Buyers paid 14.1% less than the average price in London (£510,000) in January for a property in Tower Hamlets. Across London, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £274,000.

The most expensive properties in London were in Kensington and Chelsea – £1.4 million on average, and 3.2 times as much as more than in Tower Hamlets. Kensington and Chelsea properties cost 4.1 times as much as homes in Barking and Dagenham (£346,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Factfile

Average property price in January

Tower Hamlets: £438,375London:£510,102UK: £273,762

Annual change to January

Tower Hamlets: -5.1%London: +2.2%UK: +9.6%

Best and worst annual growth in London

Islington: +13.4%Tower Hamlets: -5.1%