The bottom line

Wapping flat £213,000; terrace £276,000. Limehouse/Canary Wharf flat £192,000; terrace £260,000; semi-detached £297,000.

Royal Docks flat £106,000; terrace £177,000; semi-detached £180,000 (www.hometrack.co.uk)

Shops:

Wapping has a big Safeway store, plus traditional butchers' and grocers' shops in Wapping Lane. Canary Wharf has an expanding shopping complex, with Waitrose, M&S, Tesco Metro and the usual clothes chains. At weekends it can be very quiet, says resident Chris Webb. "But Spitalfields, Bow and Columbia Road are a short bus- or DLR-ride away."

Transport:

Wapping is in Zone 2 and has the East London Tube to New Cross. Limehouse, also in Zone 2, has the DLR to Bank, Canary Wharf, Tower Gateway and Lewisham, plus trains to Liverpool Street.

Canary Wharf, Zone 2, has the Jubilee line, which will take you to London Bridge, Waterloo, the West End, or east to Stratford and North Greenwich. It also has DLR trains to all destinations.
Royal Docks is in Zone 3 and has the DLR as above.

Parking permits cost £55 (up to two cars) in Tower Hamlets and £15 (for one car) in Newham.