Housing Data Methodology

Data Sources

• Land Registry House Price Index — Official record of property sales and values by postcode
• ONS Housing Statistics — House type distribution, tenure (owner-occupied, rental)
• Rental Market Data — Rightmove, Zoopla, and market aggregators for rental prices
• Council Tax Bands — Property value band distribution (A–H)
• Update Frequency — Land Registry updated monthly with 3–6 week lag; rental data updated weekly

House Price Data

1. Source transactions — We pull completed sales from Land Registry house price data
2. Calculate median — We compute median price for sales in the postcode in the last 12 months
3. Show trend — We compare year-over-year to show price direction (up/down/stable)
4. Note history — We show long-term price history (5–10 year trend where available)

Rental Data

Where available, we report:

• Median rent — Monthly rent for properties listed for rent in the postcode
• Yield estimate — Annual rental income as % of property value (purchase price ÷ annual rent)
• Availability — Number of properties available for rent (snapshot)

House Types

We categorize the housing stock by type (where census/council tax data permits):

• Detached
• Semi-detached
• Terraced
• Flat/Apartment
• Other (bungalow, mobile, etc.)

Affordability Metrics

We calculate affordability ratios:

• Price-to-Rent Ratio — Median house price ÷ annual median rent. High ratios (20+) indicate expensive rentals or cheap sales; low ratios (<10) indicate high rental yields
• First-Time Buyer Index — Median price as a multiple of median household income (approximated from area deprivation data)

Limitations

• Lag in Price Data — Land Registry sales are published with 3–6 week lag; prices can move quickly in hot markets
• Small Postcode Sample — Some postcodes have <5 sales per year; statistics may be unreliable
• No Micro-Area Variation — All properties in a postcode are treated equally; street-level price differences ignored
• Rental Data Incomplete — Not all rental properties are listed on major portals; student housing, corporate lets underrepresented
• New Builds Lagged — First sales of newly built properties take 6–12 months to appear in Land Registry
• Leasehold Terms Ignored — We don't differentiate freehold vs. leasehold or lease length
• No Depreciation Adjustment — Historic price data not adjusted for inflation

Council Tax Bands

We show the distribution of Council Tax bands (A–H) in the postcode, where available. Band A properties are typically <£40k (1991 valuation); Band H >£320k. This is an outdated valuation system but correlates with current property values.

Data Attribution

Contains data from HM Land Registry, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and rental market data aggregated from public property listings.