MoveIn
Methodology

How the score is built

Five comparable indicators for every neighbourhood (MSOA) in England & Wales — 7,264 areas. Each is a 0–100 score where 50 marks the typical area: we clip the extremes (2nd/98th percentile) and stretch the rest so the middle of the country sits at 50 and real magnitude is kept. EPC and flood use fixed, absolute anchors. Data vintage: 2026-07-01.

Coverage: MoveIn currently covers England & Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland are on the roadmap — most of the underlying data (crime, energy, flood) is published separately by each nation, so adding them is a data-integration project rather than a switch to flip. Enter a Scottish or NI postcode and we’ll say so plainly rather than guess.

Affordability
ONS · HM Land Registry

Local rent (overall and per-bedroom) and median sale price, relative to other areas.

Safety
Police.uk

Recorded-crime rate per 1,000 residents. A rate and a caveat — never a safe/unsafe label.

Energy efficiency
EPC Register

Median EPC rating: a proxy for running costs and comfort.

Flood resilience
Environment Agency

Flood-risk data. A resilience indicator, not a property-level survey.

Getting around
OpenStreetMap

Walkable amenity count and distance to the nearest station, supermarket, GP, school and greenspace.

The overall score

The overall score is a weighted geometric mean of the five indicators — equal weights by default, or whatever priorities you set on the search page. A geometric mean (rather than a plain average) means one excellent indicator can’t paper over a poor one — a place that’s great on energy but unaffordable and flood-prone won’t float to the top. Missing an indicator? We drop it rather than scoring it zero: missing data lowers confidence, it never silently penalises an area.

What we deliberately don’t do
  • Label an area “safe”, “unsafe”, “good” or “bad”.
  • Colour scores red-to-green as good/bad — bars stay on a neutral scale.
  • Score missing data as zero — a gap lowers confidence instead.
  • Value an individual property — this is area-level guidance only.

Data sources

HM Land Registry Price Paid
Sale prices and market context (England & Wales).
ONS Private Rent & House Price
Official rent levels, including per-bedroom (PIPR).
ONS / geography lookup
Postcode → LSOA / MSOA / local authority / region.
EPC (GOV.UK)
Energy efficiency ratings aggregated to area level.
Police.uk API
Crime indicator profile by area and month.
Planning Data API
Planning constraints and context.
Environment Agency
Flood areas and monitoring.
OpenStreetMap / Overpass
Amenities, stations, shops, green space.

Sources are official/open and used under their respective licences. Some figures are provisional and subject to revision by the publisher.