Frequently asked questions

Comparables

What is a ‘radial’ search?

A radial search will return comparable results for properties within the defined radius. The radius limit is 15000 metres and the centre of the search is based on the postcode or location inputted.

What is a ‘draw area’ search?

A draw area search will return comparable results for properties within the polygon shape drawn.

Left clicking on the map will start the polygon shape which can be drawn around an area of your choice (up to 120km²). Each new left click will draw the next polygon line; to close the polygon, join the last line to an existing line or by double clicking. You can adjust the shape of the polygon after the search.

How many comparables results will I get in my search?

Your search will return up to 200 comparables.

How are comparables ordered in my search results?

Radial search - your results will be listed in distance order from your selected postcode or location.

Draw Area search - your results will be listed in chronological order by ‘Last Known Value Date’, then ‘Last Rent Value Date’.

What is a ‘Last Known Value’?

This is the latest known value we hold for the property. The ‘Last Known Value’ is sourced from the ‘Last Known Value Type’ (see below).

What is a ‘Last Known Value Type’?

Sale - sales transactions sourced from Land Registry and Registry of Scotland

Valuation - valuations sourced from mortgage surveys

Asking Price - the asking sales price of the property sourced from a Zoopla listing (if the property has been listed on Zoopla)

What is an ‘Indexed Current Value’?

This is a Hometrack index adjusted value, based on house price growth from the last known valuation of the property. The ‘Indexed Current Value’ provides an indication of the property value today.

What is a ‘Last Rent Value Type’?

Valuation - valuations sourced from Buy to Let mortgage surveys.

Asking price - the asking rental price of the property sourced from a Zoopla listing (if the property has been listed on Zoopla).

What is a ‘UPRN’?

A UPRN is a Unique Property Reference Number used to identify unique property addresses.

Can I hide columns in the table view?

Yes, if you scroll down to the bottom of the search results in the ‘Table’ view, you can select columns to hide from your results.

Can I export the data?

Yes, you can download your search results as a CSV file. The CSV download will include all data columns.

Is there a Zoopla listing link?

Yes, when available, you will see a Zoopla link on the infopanel of the property on map view, along with the photos and floor plans. You can also filter comparables with links by selecting “Only results with listing links”.

What is the Listing Status?

The Listing Status indicates the current market state of a property based on Zoopla data:

• Archived: The property was previously listed but is no longer active
• Under Offer (Rent): An offer has been made for renting the property, but the agreement is not yet finalised
• Under Offer (Sale): An offer has been made for purchasing the property, but the sale is not yet completed
• To Rent: The property is currently available for rent
• Sold: The property has been successfully sold and is no longer on the market.

Market Intelligence

Pricing

How are the property pricing metrics calculated?

For all sales pricing, we apply a 3-month rolling average to regional, local authority, and postcode areas. We apply a 6-month rolling average to postcode districts and wards.

For all rental pricing, we apply a 12-month rolling average to all geographies.

What are the property price points?

• Lower Quartile - Indicates the price below which 25% of property transactions fall over the rolling period.
• Median - Indicates the price that is at the midpoint of the property transaction data available over the rolling period.
• Upper Quartile - Indicates the price below which 75% of property transactions fall over the rolling period.
• Upper Decile - Indicates the price below which 90% of property transactions fall over the rolling period.
• Affordable Rent - 80% of the Median value, which aligns with the ‘Affordable Rent’ tenure outside of London.
• 30th Percentile Rent - Indicates the price below which 30% of the rental asking prices fall over the rolling period. The 30th percentile is used to calculate LHA (Local Housing Allowance) rates.

What is ‘Sold and valuation price’?

‘Sold and valuation price’ uses a combination of sold data from the Land Registry & Registers of Scotland and mortgage survey data. As the Land Registry & Registers of Scotland update their records with a delay of several months, we use our additional data to incorporate mortgage survey valuations for transactions that have not yet been entered in the Land Registry or Registers of Scotland.

We have 70-80% coverage of survey valuation data in the UK.

If the same property has a valuation survey in June and a transaction value recorded in July, the survey value is included in the calculations for June and the transaction value is included in the calculation for July. If the same property has a valuation survey and transaction value in the same month, both values are counted in the calculation.

What is ‘Asking price achieved’?

‘Asking price achieved’ is the difference between the initial listing price and final sold price recorded in the Land Registry or Registers of Scotland for properties in the selected area.

If the data displays ‘100%’, this means the properties in the selected area sold for their first listed amount. Results over 100% means the properties in the selected area sold for more than the initial asking price. Results under 100% means the properties in the selected area the properties in the selected area sold for less than the initial asking price.

Methodology

We match properties with a transaction date in the selected month with the most recent listing price where available. We then calculate the median of these values across a rolling period of three months for regions and six months for local authorities and postcode areas.

What is ‘Time to sell’?

‘Time to sell’ is a market performance indicator that tracks the average length of time a property takes to sell in the selected area. This is calculated by taking the median days between an instruction first coming to market, and the agent marking a listing on Zoopla with an ‘unavailable’ sale status such as ‘sale under offer’ or ‘sold’.

Methodology

We take the median days between the initial listing published date and the first time the listing was marked with an ‘unavailable’ status on Zoopla, calculated across a rolling period of three months for regions and six months for local authorities and postcode areas. The month displayed in Data Hub includes all properties that were marked with an ‘unavailable’ status within that month. The property must have been on the market for more than 3 days, but fewer than 180 days to exclude extreme cases.

Affordability

How is ‘Households priced in’ calculated in ‘Income required to buy‘?

We calculate the midpoint of each household income band, provided by CACI, and then calculate the total borrowing threshold by multiplying the loan-to-income ratio (LTI) by each income band.

We calculate the loan amount by taking either 65% or 80% of the median or upper quartile property price in the selected area.

Based on the total borrowing threshold and loan amount, we calculate the number of households prices in, by establishing the number of households in the selected area with an average household income of at least the selected load amount.

How is ‘Ownership and rental affordability’ calculated?

Homeownership monthly cost

• We calculate homeownership monthly cost by taking the latest value for either the median or upper quartile sold and valuation price point in the selected area and applying either a 65% or 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.
• We assume a 30 year mortgage term, using table IUMBV42 from the Bank of England’s 5-year fixed term interest rate (75% LTV) for the most recent available month to then calculate the monthly mortgage repayments.

Shared ownership monthly cost

• We calculate the Shared Ownership monthly cost by taking the latest value for the upper quartile price point in the selected area, to represent new build properties.
• The first tranche share assumption is 40% of the property price with a 10% deposit of the share value
• We assume a 30 year mortgage term, using table IUMBV42 from the Bank of England's 5-year fixed term interest rate (75% LTV) for the most recent available month to calculate the mortgage repayments owed on the 40% share
• The rent price of the remaining 60% share is calculated as 2.75% of the annual amount, divided by 12 to achieve a monthly rental amount
• The total monthly cost is the sum of the monthly mortgage repayment and monthly rental payments
• The total monthly cost does not include Ground Rent or Service Charge

Rent monthly cost

• We calculate rental monthly cost by taking the latest value for either the median, 30th percentile or 80% of the median, using rental asking prices from Zoopla.
• Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are calculated based on the 30th percentile of rent prices in a Broad Market Rental Area (BRMA)
• Affordable Rent is calculated based on 80% of local market rent outside of London

Supply and demand

What are the indices?

• The ‘total supply’ index measures the relative total number of available sales or rental listings on the Zoopla portal
• The ‘new supply’ index measures the relative number of new sales or rental listings on the Zoopla portal
• The ‘demand’ index measures the relative number of email and phone leads for sale or rental listings on the Zoopla portal

What can the indices be used for?

This metric can be used to measure change in applicant intent to buy/rent a property in an area, for example:

• Is supply, new supply, or buyer demand for flats in AL1 increasing or decreasing?
• Is rental supply, new supply, or tenant demand for houses in the North East increasing or decreasing?

What can the indices not be used for?

The values for each selected area and property type are indexed to their own five year seasonal average (defined below). This means the indices cannot be used to compare different geographical areas or property types. E.g. is rental demand for flats in AL1 higher than demand for houses?

How are the indices calculated?

Our seasonal indices are calculated by comparing data from a specified month to the rolling 5 year average for that month.

For example, for the ‘total supply index’ value of January 2024, total listings for that month are compared to the average total listings from: January 2020, January 2021, January 2022, January 2023, and January 2024. A smoothing factor is then applied over a rolling period as a mean average. For a regional level this is 3 months, for local authorities and postcode areas this is 6 months.

People and society

Why do some Scottish Census data look different from the National Records of Scotland website?

Despite an intention from respective governments to develop UK-wide census results that are comparable and coherent, there are differences in the questions, data processing, and methodology of the census in Scotland compared to England and Wales.

In Datahub, the 2021 Census categories for England and Wales have been used as the standard. Many categories are the same in the 2022 Scottish Census, but when there are minor discrepancies the results have been modified to fit within the England and Wales Census categories in order to provide a coherent and comparable dataset. Where this has not been possible to do with confidence, the metric has been made unavailable for geographic areas in Scotland. This includes: Student Indicator.

What is the definition of a student?

The Student Indicator is based on the 2021 Census definition which classifies a student as a usual resident aged 5 and over who is in full-time education. This includes schoolchildren and adults in full-time education. Those studying away from home are treated as usually resident in their term-time address.

Metadata

Pricing metadata

Affordability metadata

Supply and demand metadata