To succeed in the property industry, you need to find the most profitable opportunities. But to do that, you need a competitive advantage.
While there are many ways to build a picture of a potential site or opportunity, all of them rely on having the best data points to assess an opportunity to the right level of depth.
What’s more, if you can discover the best opportunities before others find them, you’ll have a serious leg up on the competition.
To do this, you need the right data and tools.
If good data is the backbone of good decision-making, how can you assess whether you have the right data to do your job well?
Here’s our guide to the top 8 key data requirements for a good property data tool.
Top 8 data and insights you need from a property data tool:
Whether you’re an investor, consultant, surveyor or a real estate developer, here are the top 8 data and insights you need from a property data tool:
1. Planning insight
By checking the planning history before you acquire a site, you will be able to understand what may or may not be achievable.
Furthermore, looking at current and historical planning activity in the area will give you a greater understanding of what uses are in greatest demand and may drive the most value.
This helps you to identify and assess investment, site, and building opportunities to understand consent and also any local trends that other developers are committing to.
2. Sales values
Understanding accurate purchase and sales prices, along with accurate development costs, gives you confidence in the profitability of a project.
In addition, you need to understand any potential underlying risk factors when assessing a property with full insight into values (local values and comparables).
The key thing to remember here is that both the purchase price and the exit value are critical. Maximising both of these is what makes a more profitable opportunity.
3. Comparable analysis
Due to significant differences across regions, you simply cannot apply values from one region to another. Even different roads and streets can have wildly different values. It is therefore critical to have access to local and site-specific comparable data.
In addition, understanding the local market values for a range of uses is critical in determining the highest use for a property. For example, would a site make more profit if it was developed as an office or as a retail space?
4. Property transaction history
The next piece of the puzzle you need to understand is the property’s transaction history. For example; What was it last sold for? Who owns it? Is it a company? Who are they and how can you contact them?
The key here is to look out for property data tools that provide this insight for both freeholds and leaseholds.
5. Residential values (vacant possession/change of use)
Even if you’re a commercial property professional, insight into residential values is critical.
In many instances, a commercial developer will need to understand the underlying residential value of the site so they can compare and determine the most profitable exit strategy.
6. Ownership insight
Your tool should also allow you to check the credibility of the people and companies you are doing deals with.
In addition, it should provide ways of browsing corporate portfolios to support comps or negotiations with them or their competitors.
For example, the leasehold data set within Nimbus can you give in-depth access to what terms occupiers are agreeing to, allowing you to secure optimum terms for any similar schemes you are working on.
Furthermore, it can allow you to target other assets within their portfolios.
7. Industry black book
Finally, look for tools where you can leverage the industry's black book. Some tools show you who is working with who, giving you multiple ways of connecting with the people you want to get in touch with.
For example, the bespoke planning export within Nimbus allows you to understand which companies and professional teams are most active in a particular area.
8. Comprehensive comparables
The price you pay for a property can make or break your profit margins. That’s why understanding comparables is so important.
But you need your comparables to include all the use classes from commercial through to residential. This is especially important for supporting the change of use, for example, from commercial to residential.
Make your property data tool work harder
You need a comprehensive view of sites and properties to make the best decisions. The trouble is, property data tools are often slow, messy, incomplete, and holding you back. Time’s wasted digging out data and there’s no 360 view of all property insights.
But property investing works best when all the information is in front of you.
Unlike other tools, Nimbus is built around the most important thing - giving you a competitive advantage. It provides complete information on both residential and commercial properties, including planning information, values, and comparables.
With Nimbus you can move faster and be fully informed - even when everyone’s remote.
You’ll never go back to incomplete data again.
Nimbus collects and overlays over 1000 property data attributes and combines this with map overlays to give you the most comprehensive view of the market and every property - whether it's on-market or off-market.
See for yourself. Book your personalised demo today.
