Postcode Intelligence — Signals

Normalised postcode with space: "SW1A 2AA". Outward-only queries: "SW1A".

First part of the postcode (e.g. "SW1A").

Second part of the postcode. Null for outward-code-only queries.

Population-weighted centroid latitude (ONSPD). Not a property boundary.

Population-weighted centroid longitude.

Ordnance Survey easting (British National Grid).

Ordnance Survey northing (British National Grid).

Country this postcode falls within.

ONS region (e.g. "South East", "London"). England only.

Local authority district or unitary authority.

County. Null for unitary authorities.

Electoral ward within the local authority.

Civil parish or community name. Null where no parish exists.

Westminster parliamentary constituency (2024 boundary review).

NHS Integrated Care Board area.

Lower Layer Super Output Area code (2021 census). ~1,500 residents.

Middle Layer Super Output Area code (2021 census). ~8,000 residents.

ONS 2021 rural-urban classification.

Government Statistical Service codes for all administrative geographies above. Useful for joining to ONS statistical datasets. Fields: adminDistrict, adminCounty, adminWard, parliamentaryConstituency, lsoa, msoa.

Band of scores.propertyRiskScore. Weighted from flood, crime, radon, and groundwater signals.

Band of scores.liveabilityScore. Weighted from air quality, crime, deprivation, green space, and EPC signals.

Derived from flood and crime percentile ranks. high = elevated flood or crime risk. medium = moderately elevated. low otherwise. Null when both signals are unavailable.

Band of scores.investmentScore. Derived from property price rank, price trend direction, and deprivation. Not a prediction.

Derived from signals.property.priceTrend. Categorises year-on-year price change into five magnitude buckets from strong growth to significant decline. Null when no price trend data.

Count of percentile-scored signals available for this postcode. high = 6+, medium = 3–5, low = fewer than 3. Treat low-confidence postcodes with more uncertainty in downstream models.

Overall direction of the area derived from three trend signals: IMD trend, property price growth signal, and air quality trend. improving = two or more positive with no negative. declining = two or more negative with no positive. mixed = both present. Null when no trends available.

Weighted suitability for families with children. Derived from crime, green space proximity, deprivation, and broadband. Null when too few of the underlying signals are available.

Weighted suitability for retirement. Derived from crime, air quality, green space proximity, deprivation, and rural/urban classification. Null when too few of the underlying signals are available.

Superfast broadband (30Mbps+) available per Ofcom Connected Nations. Infrastructure coverage, not per-property.

Ultrafast broadband (100Mbps+) available.

Gigabit-capable broadband available.

Risk of flooding from rivers or the sea per Environment Agency data. "high" = greater than 1 in 30 chance per year.

Year-on-year change in rivers/sea flood risk band vs the prior EA annual update. Null until feed has run twice.

Risk of groundwater flooding (rising water table). Most relevant in chalk and limestone areas.

Year-on-year change in groundwater flood risk. Same pattern as riversSeaTrend.

Median residential transaction price last 12 months (HMLR Price Paid). Null when fewer than 3 transactions.

25th percentile residential transaction price (last 12 months).

75th percentile residential transaction price (last 12 months).

Year-on-year % change in median price: last 12 months vs prior 12 months. Positive = growth.

Period over which priceTrend is calculated. Always 12.

Number of residential transactions in the last 12 months.

Geographic level at which price data is sourced. local_authority is Scotland-only (council area average; priceLow/priceHigh are null at this level).

Confidence in the price trend. null when no trend is available (price data exists but no YoY history, or no data at any level). "high" = postcode-level 10+ transactions. "medium" = sector-level. "low" = district or local authority level.

Index of Multiple Deprivation decile 1–10. 1 = most deprived 10% nationally. Covers England (ONS IMD 2025), Scotland (SIMD 2020), Wales (WIMD 2025).

Change in IMD decile between most recent and prior editions. "improving" = less deprived. England only.

Overall crime rate band relative to the within-country distribution. England/Wales: LSOA (quarterly). Scotland: SIMD datazone (~5-yearly).

Geographic resolution of the crime signals. Fields: band ("lsoa" | "datazone"), categories ("lsoa" | "local_authority").

Violence and sexual offences. Scotland: non-sexual violence + sexual crimes.

Burglary, theft, shoplifting. Scotland: crimes of dishonesty.

Vehicle crime. Scotland: motor vehicle offences.

Anti-social behaviour and public order. Scotland: miscellaneous offences.

Drugs offences. Scotland: weapons and drug crimes.

Criminal damage and arson. Scotland: fire-raising and vandalism.

Name of the current Westminster MP. From UK Parliament Members API, refreshed weekly.

Political party of the current MP.

Hex colour code for the MP's party (e.g. "#E4003B"). Useful for map visualisations.

Most common EPC energy efficiency band for residential properties. England and Wales only. Null when fewer than 3 certificates on record.

Council tax band estimate. lower/upper give the band range (equal when a single band is determined). source: "exact_nrs" = authoritative NRS data (Scotland); "derived_hmlr" = derived from HMLR prices + ONS regional HPI (England/Wales); "derived_lsoa" = LSOA price fallback only. Not authoritative VOA data for E&W.

Most common residential property type in this postcode's LSOA. Derived from ONS Census 2021 TS044 (England/Wales) and NRS Census 2022 (Scotland). Null until CensusPropertyTypeFeed has run.

Derived from NO2 using DEFRA DAQI thresholds. "very_low" covers most rural and suburban postcodes.

Year-on-year change in air quality band vs the prior DEFRA annual update.

Annual mean NO2 concentration (µg/m³) from DEFRA modelled data. WHO guideline: 10. UK legal limit: 40.

Annual mean PM2.5 concentration (µg/m³). WHO guideline: 5. UK limit: 20.

Radon potential from BGS/UKHSA Indicative Atlas. Reflects % of homes likely to exceed the UKHSA action level (200 Bq/m³).

Distance in metres to nearest public green space access point (OS Open Greenspace, e.g. parks/playing fields — not open countryside). Cross-reference ruralUrbanClassification/isNationalPark for rural postcodes. Updated every 6 months.

True if the postcode falls within a National Park. Covers all 15 UK national parks (England, Wales, Scotland).

True if the postcode falls within a National Landscape (AONB). Covers England, Wales, and Scotland NSAs.

True if the postcode falls within a statutory Green Belt (England only).

0.0–1.0. Higher = more risk (inverted convention). Derived from national percentile ranks of flood, crime, radon, and groundwater signals. Null-safe — redistributes when signals are missing. Null when too few components are available.

0.0–1.0. Higher = more liveable. Derived from national percentile ranks of air quality, crime, deprivation, green space, and EPC signals. Null-safe. Null when too few components are available.

0.0–1.0. Derived from property price rank, price trend direction, and deprivation rank. Null when too few inputs are available.

0.0–1.0. Inverted national property price percentile. 1.0 = cheapest nationally, 0.0 = most expensive. Null when no property price data.

Always "0_to_1; higher_is_better except propertyRiskScore". All scores are 0–1 and higher is better, except propertyRiskScore where lower is better (it measures risk, not desirability).

0–100 national percentile rank. 100 = highest flood (rivers/sea) risk.

100 = highest groundwater flood risk.

100 = highest crime rate nationally.

100 = least deprived nationally.

100 = most expensive nationally.

100 = most expensive within ONS region.

100 = highest radon potential.

100 = cleanest air nationally.

100 = closest green space nationally.

100 = most energy efficient nationally.

How far (metres) the matched postcode centroid is from the coordinates you submitted. Present on GET /v1/postcode/nearest only — null on standard postcode lookups.

Response schema version. Currently "1.0".

ISO 8601 datetime when the core postcode dataset was last loaded.

ISO 8601 datetime when this request was processed.

Data source attribution per signal group. Fields: geography, flood, crime, property, deprivation, broadband, environment, epc, greenSpace.