Methodology and sources

How Rowantoft works out the figures it shows, where the data comes from and what the figures cannot tell you.

These figures are estimates from public data. They are not a valuation, a forecast or financial advice.

Current data release

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How the figures are worked out

Postcode sectors

A postcode sector is a postcode without its last two letters, such as M14 5. It usually covers a few thousand addresses. Rowantoft works at sector level and never shows an address. Only England and Wales are covered.

Sales

Sales come from HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for the six years before the release was built. Each sale is shown with its month and its price rounded to the nearest £1,000. A sector shows individual sales only if it had at least 5 sales in those six years, and the free checker shows the five most recent.

Land Registry marks some sales as additional price paid, such as repossessions, buy-to-let purchases with a mortgage and sales to companies. They are listed with a flag but left out of every median.

Median prices

A median is the middle price when the sales are put in order. Rowantoft gives a median for a sector, and for each property type in it, only when there are at least 5 standard sales to work from. The district median uses every standard sale in the postcode district, which gives context for the sector.

Rents

Rents come from the Office for National Statistics Price Index of Private Rents, which gives an average monthly rent for each local authority by number of bedrooms. A sector that falls in more than one local authority shows the range across them. The most recent month published is used.

Gross yield

Gross yield is a year's rent divided by the purchase price, shown as a percentage. The purchase price starts at the sector median for the property type you choose. The rent starts at the middle of the published range for the number of bedrooms, or the figure for all sizes of home when none is published for that number. You can change both.

When the rent comes from the published range, the yield is shown as a range from the lowest rent to the highest, because a local authority figure cannot say where one home sits. When you enter your own rent, the yield is a single figure.

Gross yield leaves out empty periods between tenants, letting and management fees, maintenance and repairs, mortgage costs and tax. Rowantoft does not work out a net yield.

Rounding

• Sale prices and medians are rounded to the nearest £1,000.
• Sale dates are shown as the month only.
• Yields are shown to one decimal place, with a half rounded up.
• Rents are shown in whole pounds as published, and the starting rent is the middle of the range to the nearest pound.

Known limits

• Sector, not street. The figures describe a whole postcode sector, which can mix very different streets and homes.
• Rents by local authority. Rents are averages for a whole local authority, so the rent for a sector is a broad range and may differ a lot from any one home.
• Price Paid lag. Land Registry usually publishes a sale two to three months after it completes, so the latest months have fewer sales and prices trail the market.
• No floor area or energy rating yet. Energy Performance Certificate data is not used yet, so there is no floor area, price per square foot or energy rating.

Sources and attribution