Poplar and Blackwall house prices,and what they mean.

E14 is a flat market first and foremost. Much of it was built from the 1980s onwards: low-rise Docklands-era developments around the old docks, then wave after wave of high-rise towers, with more still coming. Buyers are often professionals working at Canary Wharf or in the City, drawn by the Jubilee line, the DLR and now the Elizabeth line.

Because so much new stock arrives, a resale flat is usually competing with a developer offering incentives, and that caps what a buyer will pay. Within a building, floor level, aspect and river or dock views make a real difference to price.

The checks that matter most are leasehold ones: service charges in towers can be substantial, ground rent and lease terms vary, and since Grenfell some buildings have needed cladding or fire-safety work, and lenders often ask for an EWS1 form before they will lend on a flat in a taller building. Whether one exists, and what it says, can decide whether a sale goes through. A flat that looks good value can be cheap for a reason, and the paperwork usually tells you why.

Over the years, developers marketed many of the new homes built around the Limehouse Cut with a story about Narrow Street and Limehouse. In practice, many buyers bought in Poplar, not Limehouse.

That matters when you come to sell, because buyers, agents and valuers will judge the home against sales in the area it is actually in. Before you buy a new home described as Limehouse, check the postcode and look at what comparable homes nearby have sold for, rather than relying on the name in the brochure.