Housing in Tower Hamlets

Housing is a unique research area for a variety of reasons, serving as both an investment and a consumption good (Goodwin K.R, 2021: 1). The supply and demand for housing can influence house prices. House prices are a significant economic indicator, capturing and reflecting the benefits of a range of composite attributes (Cabras, I. et al, 2020: 3), therefore it is important that it is investigated. Fluctuations in house prices can signal changes in the overall economy. The rate of inflation in the UK is currently rising, making rent increasingly unaffordable, which is causing changes in house prices. This can affect the availability of affordable housing.

In order to address my research question, I have taken a mixed method approach. According to researchers, mixing methods "produces new knowledge […] through the integration of different methods at analytical, interpretive, or epistemological levels" (Elwood S., 2018: 5). Using different methods will help to make my results credible and allow me to put my findings in context, adding richer detail to my conclusion. The methods used include Geospatial methods: visually represent the median house price in a borough using arcGIS, Quantitative methods: descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, using histograms to represent data collected, and Qualitative methods: through discourse analysis.

This story map will be looking at house prices in the wards of Tower Hamlets and compare the wards' house prices from different years, e.g., whether there has been any significant change, as well as looking at the availability of affordable housing in the borough.

By bringing geospatial, quantitative, and qualitative methods together in order to address my research question, I have learnt the importance of mixed method approaches in order to make an overall conclusion. Relying on more than one method has allowed me to analyse various parts of my research from different perspectives. This includes mapping specific wards and its house prices, comparing the same data I had mapped with data from a previous year and finding out whether there has been any change in median house prices paid by ward, and lastly, if house prices (with or without significant change) impact the availability of affordable housing for local residents in Tower Hamlets. It could be argued that house prices have risen faster than inflation as well as income and this can affect certain areas as they may see price changes much more rapidly or to a greater extent, leading to less availability of affordable homes. However, to tackle this issue, councils should focus on providing genuinely affordable housing for its local residents, so that many aren’t suffering from living in temporary accommodation or just simply being unable to afford homes to live in.

Potential future directions that could be taken in order to address my research could be collecting data showing changes in house prices over a longer period of time rather than the 2 most recent years. Another way could be looking at the availability of affordable housing in each ward of Tower Hamlets, rather than the entirety of the borough.