Buy-to-let in Epping Forest
Yields, prices, demand and local risks for Epping Forest, covering Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell, Epping and 3 more ranked towns.
Epping Forest in figures
- Gross rental yield
- 4.2% to 5.5%
- By kind of home, across Epping Forest
- Entry price, across its towns
- £391,000 to £628,000
- The cheapest postcode district's median sale
- Price move, 12 months
- +6.4%
- UK House Price Index, across Epping Forest
- Price move, 10 years
- +19.0%
- UK House Price Index, across Epping Forest
- Population
- 138,394
- Epping Forest, +2.8% growth
- Semi-detached houses across Epping Forest let for £1,970/mo against a median sale of £569,000 there: 4.2% gross before costs, on ONS rents and sold prices for the whole authority.
- ONS puts the median rent across the whole local authority at £1,844/mo, which is the figure to check an asking rent against.
- Prices across Epping Forest rose 6.4% over the last year on the mix-adjusted UK HPI, which is measured for the whole local authority.
- Prices +19% over ten years (Epping Forest)
- Construction: 15.8% of jobs against 5.1% across Great Britain (Epping Forest)
- £52,800 stamp duty with the 5% surcharge on a £628,000 buy-to-let
- 483 homes added across Epping Forest
- Band D £2,277 (Epping Forest)
- 1.1% long-term empty across Epping Forest
- +19% five-year forecast for East of England as a whole (Savills), not this area
These figures are from Clarity's monthly ranking dataset, one method across every place so they compare. The Epping Forest report measures the area in more depth over its own twelve months, so its figures are the ones to quote.
What sits behind the figures
Prices across Epping Forest moved +19.0% over ten years on the UK House Price Index.
Construction is 15.8% of employee jobs in Epping Forest, against 5.1% across Great Britain (7,000 jobs in 2015, 9,000 in 2024). Where one industry carries that much of a local economy, rents and prices tend to move with it. Employee jobs across Epping Forest moved +11.8% from 2015 to 2024 (ONS Business Register and Employment Survey).
59% of the energy performance certificates lodged across Buckhurst Hill's postcode districts are below band C (4,014 certificates). Clarity measures areas rather than individual homes, so this is the share of the local stock likely to need energy-efficiency work before it meets a band C standard, not a survey of any one property.
A buy-to-let at £628,000 pays £52,800 in Stamp Duty Land Tax, including the 5% surcharge on additional homes.
The five-year forecast quoted above (Savills, East of England) is a regional figure for East of England as a whole, not a forecast for Epping Forest, and Clarity does not rank on it.
Towns in Epping Forest
| Town | Entry price | Gross yield | Tenant demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buckhurst Hill | £628,000 | 4.2%semi-detached houses | 5.4/10 |
| Chigwell | £445,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 5.1/10 |
| Epping | £490,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 5.3/10 |
| Loughton | £492,500 | 4.5%terraced houses | 5.2/10 |
| Ongar | £450,000 | 4.5%terraced houses | 5.1/10 |
| Waltham Abbey | £391,000 | 5.5%flats | 4.9/10 |
Each yield is Epping Forest's, for the kind of home that town's prices point to, and the year's price move is measured across Epping Forest as a whole, so towns pointing to the same kind of home share a yield.
The Epping Forest report
The full report measures Epping Forest from its own sales: sold prices and rents for each type of home, the year's price move, crime per resident and worker, flood risk, planning designations, housing delivery and regeneration funding, with a worked buy-to-let deal on your own budget. This edition was built in October 2026.
Read the cover of the Epping Forest report, free, with its headline figures, before you decide.
You own this report
The latest Clarity PDF report for Epping Forest, monthly rebuilds included.
Read a full Liverpool report, free to see everything a report contains.
Compare it with everywhere else
The investment map ranks Epping Forest against every other place we cover, on your own budget and strategy. Questions about the figures or about us are answered here.
Sources and further reading
- HM Land Registry: UK House Price Index
- HM Land Registry: Price Paid Data (England and Wales)
- Registers of Scotland: property market statistics (Scotland)
- ONS: Price Index of Private Rents
- ONS: Population estimates
- ONS: Business Register and Employment Survey
- MHCLG: Energy Performance of Buildings Data (England and Wales)
- HMRC: Stamp Duty Land Tax