Methodology
How we price and rank.
Plain-English breakdown of every data source, refresh cadence and scoring rule behind FindYourAgent's valuations and agent recommendations.
Where the data comes from
Average prices, year-on-year movement and postcode-level premiums are built from HM Land Registry Price Paid records, the ONS House Price Index bulletin, and the Energy Performance Certificate register. All three are publicly published under the Open Government Licence v3.
How often we refresh
Headline city prices are refreshed quarterly. Postcode-district premiums are refreshed exactly twice a year. Each /house-prices page carries a clearly visible 'last updated' stamp and a matching dateModified in its structured data — so you always know exactly how fresh that number is.
How we rank agents
We forward your enquiry to GetAgent, who rank local estate agents by three measurable signals: sale-price-vs-asking ratio, average days on market, and number of comparable homes sold in your postcode in the last 12 months. We never rank by who pays the most for placement.
Where the model is wrong
Online valuations are accurate to roughly ±10% for typical homes in liquid markets — and less accurate for unusual property (listed, non-standard construction, very large lots) or thin markets. The asking price for your home should be set by an in-person valuation from a local agent.
Trust & transparency
The four questions most comparison sites refuse to answer.
We're an affiliate of GetAgent — and we think you deserve to know exactly how that works before you trust a single recommendation we make.
How comparisons work
When you submit your details, your enquiry is sent to our partner GetAgent, who run the same comparison they'd run on their own site: every estate agent active in your postcode is scored against the local sold-price record (sale-vs-asking ratio, days on market, comparable sales in the last 12 months). The top two or three on those signals are the ones who get in touch. We don't manually pick favourites and we don't override the algorithm.
How agents are selected
Agents qualify for shortlisting if they (1) cover your specific postcode, (2) have a minimum sample of comparable sales (typically 10+ in the last 12 months), (3) are members of a recognised redress scheme (TPO or PRS — required by law), and (4) clear a minimum threshold on the three performance signals. Agents who fail any of those are excluded, regardless of brand size or marketing spend.
How we earn money
Sellers pay us nothing — ever. When you instruct one of the agents introduced to you, that agent pays GetAgent a referral fee on successful completion (typically a small share of their commission). GetAgent shares a portion of that fee with FindYourAgent. The agent's commission to you is unchanged — they don't pass the referral fee on. If you don't sell, or you choose an agent we didn't introduce, no money changes hands.
How rankings are determined
Rankings are determined entirely by three measurable signals from the public sold-price record: (1) the average sale-price-vs-asking-price ratio over the last 12 months in your postcode, (2) the average days-on-market for that agent's comparable sales, and (3) the volume of comparable transactions completed. Agents cannot pay to rank higher, buy placement, or sponsor categories. If we ever introduced paid placement we would label it clearly — for now, it does not exist.
Sources we cite
- HM Land Registry — UK House Price IndexMonthly accredited official statistics. Used for the headline city averages and YoY movement.
- Office for National Statistics — HPI bulletinUsed to calibrate trend adjustments and regional context for sub-quarterly movement.
- EPC Register (Open Data Communities)Energy ratings and floor-area data used to refine the valuation model where available.
- HMRC — Stamp Duty Land TaxCurrent SDLT bands used for the per-city stamp-duty worked example.
Editorial standards
We don't write fluff. Every figure on a city page traces back to a public dataset and an explicit refresh date. We never quote prices we can't source, and we never run paid placements in the agent rankings.
When the data is uncertain (thin markets, unusual stock, post-budget transition periods) we say so on the page rather than presenting a false-precision number.
Spotted something wrong? Let us know via our contact form and we'll fix it.