How area facts are measured

Every neighbourhood fact on HousePattern carries its source, the period it covers, the method version that produced it and the date it was retrieved. Unknown values stay unknown, with a reason. Nothing here ranks or filters homes by who lives in an area.

Active dataset releases

Dataset: london-lsoa-2021 version synthetic-areas-1 (SYNTHETIC fixture, not real data)
Geography: synthetic 2021, GB-ENG; 7 areas, 197 observations
Built: 30 Sept 2026; promoted 2 Oct 2026
Attribution: Synthetic fixture (HousePattern); no external data
Licence: None required (synthetic)

Commute (modelled)

Source: SYNTHETIC fixture values (Transport for London network and journey model (ukmaptool rail model); timetabled rail leg, modelled walking and local access once real data is imported)
Licence: None (synthetic)
Period: Latest published at build time
Method: ukmaptool-rail-model-2026-09
Coverage: Every Greater London neighbourhood with a modelled route to the eight central destinations; areas without a station inside the access limits are "not applicable"

Limits:

Minutes are modelled from a representative point in the area for a weekday arrival by 09:00, not a routed journey from any address
Access to the boarding station is modelled as walking or local transport; real journeys vary by street and time

Transport

Source: SYNTHETIC fixture values (Transport for London stations (Unified API) with straight-line walking estimates once real data is imported)
Licence: None (synthetic)
Period: Latest published at build time
Method: ukmaptool-nearest-station-2026-09
Coverage: Walk time to the nearest rail, tube, Overground, DLR, tram or Elizabeth line station from the area representative point

Limits:

Walking minutes assume 4.8 km/h with a street detour factor; they are estimates, not measured routes

Schools

Source: SYNTHETIC fixture values (DfE Get Information about Schools, DfE Explore Education Statistics (KS2 and KS4), Ofsted monthly management information once real data is imported)
Licence: None (synthetic)
Period: Latest published at build time
Method: ukmaptool-school-reach-2km-2026-09
Coverage: Schools within 2 km that can admit a child of the stated age; results are the latest published at build time

Limits:

Distance is reach, not an admissions catchment; living nearby does not secure a place
KS2 is the share of pupils reaching the expected standard; Progress 8 is a secondary measure that is legitimately negative for some schools
Some schools have no published result; they are counted in reach but not in scores

Sold prices

Source: SYNTHETIC fixture values (HM Land Registry Price Paid Data once real data is imported)
Licence: None (synthetic)
Period: 2024-09-10 to 2026-07-31
Method: ukmaptool-hmlr-median-24m-2026-09
Coverage: Median registered sale prices over 24 months per neighbourhood; medians are suppressed below five sales

Limits:

Sold prices lag completion by registration time and are not asking prices
A median says which homes sold, not what is for sale now

Recorded crime

Source: SYNTHETIC fixture values (police.uk street-level recorded crime, twelve months once real data is imported)
Licence: None (synthetic)
Period: 2025-08-01 to 2026-07-31
Method: ukmaptool-police-12m-cohort-2026-09
Coverage: Recorded offences per 1,000 residents per year by category, and a cohort percentile ranking comparable London areas

Limits:

Locations are anonymised to street level by police.uk; nothing here places an offence at a home
Town-centre and transport-hub areas record offences against visitors; the footfall flag marks them
Historical recorded incidents, not a prediction of anyone's safety

Deprivation

Source: SYNTHETIC fixture values (Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 via the ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup once real data is imported)
Licence: None (synthetic)
Period: Latest published at build time
Method: ons-nspl-imd2019
Coverage: Rank of each 2011-based LSOA mapped to its 2021 successor where unchanged

Limits:

IMD 2019 predates the 2021 geography; areas that split or merged may carry their predecessor rank

How the area finder scores (method area-match-v1)

The area finder uses only the practical preferences you select. Each becomes either a hard limit, a weighted priority, or both. It never uses, infers or ranks by who lives in an area.

Hard limits: Need a usable figure. An unknown figure fails the limit unless you keep unknowns for that layer, in which case the area is listed and labelled; excluded-for-unknown areas are counted separately.
Fit: 100 × Σ(weight × satisfaction) ÷ Σ(weight of priorities with usable data). Satisfaction is 0 to 1 per priority, with the transforms below. Shown only for the comparable tier.
Coverage: Σ(weight with usable data) ÷ Σ(all selected weights). Below 0.75 an area is “insufficient data”: no headline number, listed after every comparable area, ordered by coverage. When nothing has a positive weight there is no score at all.
Commute: clamp((2T − minutes) ÷ T, 0, 1) for your target T (defaults to your hard limit, else 45 minutes). Minutes are modelled from the neighbourhood to the destination at a morning peak.
Station walk: Same shape with your target T (default 10 minutes) against the nearest station walk.
Schools: Best published result among schools within 2 km for the chosen age: KS2 50% → 0 and 95% → 1; Progress 8 −0.5 → 0 and +1.0 → 1. A negative Progress 8 is a real score, not missing data. Distance is not a catchment.
Recorded crime: Cohort percentile ÷ 100, where 100 means the least recorded crime among comparable areas over the period. Historical incidents, not a prediction of personal safety.
Sold prices: Median sold price over 24 months against your maximum price: at or below 80% of budget → 1; at or above 140% → 0; linear between.
Ordering: Comparable areas by fit, then matching homes, then name; insufficient-data areas after them by coverage. Without weights: shortest requested commute or most matching homes. Matching-home counts use exactly the feed's eligibility predicate.
Destinations: Eight precomputed central destinations. A private workplace is never accepted here or written into a share link.

What we never do

Treat a missing value as zero, safe, freehold, no flood risk or no route.
Present a modelled commute from an area as a measured journey from a home.
Call school distance a catchment, or recorded crime a prediction of personal safety.
Rank, exclude or recommend homes by ethnicity, religion, nationality or any inferred protected attribute.

Generated 3 Oct 2026. Back to homes