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Buyer-side price intelligence · England

Know what to offer
before you offer.

A Buyer Folio is a full briefing on the one home you’re about to offer on. What directly comparable homes actually sold for, what buyers in that market really pay against asking, what the seller’s own history suggests, the risks on the address the listing leaves out, and what the home will cost you to own. Then a plan for your offer, built from all of it. No agent, seller or portal pays us. You do, so it works for you.

Request a Folio · £349

Launch priceUntil 15 Oct, then £480 · VAT incl.

No card today. Within one working day we confirm the registers hold enough directly comparable sales to stand behind every number, then send a payment link. If they don’t, you pay nothing.

SettleIQ provides unregulated transaction data, not FCA-regulated financial advice, RICS valuations, or price forecasts. Folios must supplement, never replace, a physical surveyor’s inspection.

Registered data from
16 public registers

  • VOA
  • EPC
  • HMLR
  • UKHPI
  • PIPR
  • NSPL
  • NaFRA
  • Radon
  • Noise
  • Planning
  • NHLE
  • IMD
  • GIAS
  • NaPTAN
  • Ofcom
  • OSM
Snippets from a sample folio
01 10
  • 3-bed flat
  • Leasehold · term unconfirmed
  • 108 m² · 1,160 sq ft
  • EPC C (77)
  • Sector SE5 8, Southwark
The finding

Priced above its own evidence

Asking, above the register £253,766
Asking
£1,125,000
Anchor (the middle)
£871,234
Ceiling (top of the range)
£1,020,426

Twelve directly comparable flats sold here in 24 months. Setting aside the highest and lowest price per square foot, the other ten put the registered centre at £871,234, a quarter of a million below the asking. Every offer number in the folio stays within what they support.

§01 · Recommendation

The tactical bracket

WHAT THE COHORT SUPPORTS AIM £104,574 OF AIR ANCHOR OPEN ASKING £834,035 floor
Open
£1,000,017
a step under the aim
Aim · walk away
£1,020,426
top of the supported range
Anchor
£871,234
registered centre

The aim and the walk-away are the same figure, and that is the finding: the asking sits £104,574 above the highest number the cohort supports, so there is no registered ground above it left to aim at.

§02 · Negotiation intelligence

The Leverage Matrix

6.2 of 10
mildly seller-firm
  • Market velocity holding flat
  • Price momentum strongly decelerating
  • Listing traction fast — 14 days on market
  • Reduction history not yet reduced

The market underneath is losing price momentum while velocity holds flat, but this specific seller is defying the softness with a fast, unreduced listing. The four signals net to mildly seller-firm — enough to open a measured step under the aim rather than lowball a vendor who has no reason to move.

§03 · Evidence

How we found the comparable flats

  • In the sectorall 3-bed flats 3,825
  • With an energy certificateEPC on record 2,891
  • Same era and tenurepre-1900 · leasehold 32
12 Your matches sold in 24 months

Of 3,825 three-bed flats in the sector, 32 share this one’s era and tenure, and 12 of those sold in the last 24 months. We never had to look beyond the sector or loosen the era, so the anchor rests on local, like-for-like sales.

§04 · Comparables

Positioned against the cohort

ASKING ANCHOR £1,150k £500k 750 sq ft 1,200 sq ft

The cohort’s own rate, applied to this flat’s cross-checked floor area, lands the anchor on the line at £871,234. The asking sits a quarter of a million above it — and one comparable sold at almost exactly the same floor area, so the gap is not a size argument.

§05 · Market trajectory

Zoom out and there is nothing to borrow

Sector median £/sq ft £764 → £676 Q3’25 peak → Q1’26 · −11.5%

UKHPI, 8-quarter change

  • SE5 8 (sector) -6.9%
  • SE5 (district) -8.4%
  • Southwark (borough) -2.4%
  • London (region) -4.5%
  • England -0.4%

Every level is down, the borough included, so there is no local headline for the agent to point at — and this sector is not even the weakest of the five: its own district is.

§06 · Negotiation environment

How many rival buyers you face has a calendar

8.3% 10.3% 6.3% JFMAMJJASOND 1,234 registered completions · 2016–2026
Quietest April · 6.3% Those offers were agreed in midwinter.
Busiest March · 10.3% Completions cluster against late-March tax deadlines.

A completion sits roughly two months downstream of its offer, so the April trough is really a midwinter trough in offers — the thinnest competition a patient buyer will face. The district’s 4,101 completions trace the same curve, so this is structural.

§07 · Location intelligence

Checked at the address, not the postcode

  • Getting around ~18 min rail to London Victoria NaPTAN · journey set
  • Schools 5 within 700m, four Good or better DfE · Ofsted
  • Broadband 1,000 Mbps full-fibre at the premises Ofcom, address-checked
  • Neighbourhood 48% of England ranked below it IMD 2025

Broadband matched to this address by a live Ofcom call, not a postcode average. And the folio is candid where the record runs out: the signals that would price schools, transport and green space returned no computable value here, so it reports the absence rather than inventing a premium.

§07 · Location intelligence

The average hides the argument

95% SCHOOLS 10% LIVING ENV. –– borough median
  • Schools & skills 95% ↑4.4
  • Income 63% ↑6.7
  • Jobs 55% ↓1.3
  • Safety 53% ↑21.1
  • Health 40% ↓27.9
  • Access to housing 15% ↓8.6
  • Living environment 10% ↓12.9

Gentrification stage Steady Position holding, appreciation not outrunning the borough. Descriptive, never a forecast.

Ahead of 48% of England — a number that tells you almost nothing. Beneath it the dimensions run from 95% to 10%, and they pull opposite ways: safety up 21 points since 2019, health down 28. Arrows are 2019 → 2025, in points.

§08 · Risk register

Ten property-level checks

6/ 10 Checks clear
  • Flood Clear
  • Radon Clear
  • Cladding Clear
  • Noise Clear
  • Article 4 Clear
  • Asbestos Clear
  • Conservation area Flagged
  • Listed building Confirm
  • Chain Confirm
  • Lease term Confirm

Six of ten checks are clear. The one flag — a conservation-area designation — is a consent step, not a defect. The three left open are the ones no public register holds: listed status, the seller’s chain, and the lease term. Get all three in writing from the vendor’s solicitor before exchange.

Estimates used
0
Homes in our ledger
25M
Matched to the exact home
9 in 10

Built by two ex-Google founders, with 30+ years of data and product experience between them. SettleIQ on LinkedIn

  • LedgerEvery English home, matched25M+ homes linked across Land Registry, VOA and EPC records, so your comparables are the right homes.
  • MarketWhat buyers here actually payOur own panel of asking prices matched to registered sales: how far below asking homes like yours settle.
  • MethodA method, not an estimateOnly sales of the same type, tenure, age and size count, and every one is listed, so you can check the working.
  • StrategyA plan you can act onWhere to open, aim and walk away, the seller’s position, and offer letters. Checked against the registers before it’s sent.

Four Sample FoliosDelivered folios, not mock-ups: open any one and check the working.

01 · The listed terraceBA11

4-bed houseFreehold · listed building · Somerset

Comparable Properties

21

from 1,214 four-bed houses in the sector

Locked on type, tenure, pre-1900 age band and floor band

Asking
£695,000
Open
£498,583
Read the folio

02 · The flatSE23

2-bed flatLeasehold · Lewisham, London

Comparable Properties

20

from 3,040 flats in the sector

Locked on type, tenure, pre-1929 age band and floor band

Asking
£475,000
Open
£469,580
Read the folio

03 · The auction lotLA3

1-bed flatFreehold · Morecambe, Lancaster

Comparable Properties

21

from 2,219 flats in the district

Locked on type and floor band; any era or tenure

Guide
£40,000
Max bid
£60,133
Read the folio

04 · The trophy estateSW6

Large detached houseFreehold · Hammersmith & Fulham

Comparable Properties

22

every outer-belt house of this scale sold since 2021

Locked on certified size (±30%), rung and market

Asking
£23,000,000
Open
£19,266,714
Read the folio

Note for first-time buyers

The first-time homebuyer’s trap.

Every tool you research with is paid for by the other side of the table.

  • Listing revenue

    Property portals

    Agents pay a monthly per-branch subscription, then pay again for prominence. The portal you search on is largely funded by agents, who are instructed by the seller to get the best price.

    The asking price is the advert

  • Generating leads

    Free valuation tools

    Many instant estimates are free because they help agents find people thinking of selling. They are not built to tell a buyer what to offer. The free tools we have reviewed are not built to say: this one is overpriced, offer less.

    Free, because you aren’t the customer

Why it matters on your first purchase

A first-time buyer has no prior sale to compare against — so the asking price becomes the anchor, and every free tool quietly confirms it. Registered evidence is the only second opinion.

“When a product is free, you are the product.”When you pay for one, you’re the client.

Why not a portal estimate

A portal estimate gives you a number.
A folio shows its working.

Portal estimates come out of a model you can’t see into. A folio opens it up: every sale it used, every rule it applied, every figure traced to its register.

How a Buyer Folio compares with a portal estimate and a sold-price search
What you get Property portal
estimate		 Sold-price
search		 SettleIQBuyer Folio
Names every sale behind the figureNoYesYes
Matches on type, tenure and age bandNoNoYes
Shows the matching rules it appliedNoNoYes
Offer range the evidence supportsNoNoYes
Offer & negotiation strategyNoNoYes
Independent of seller-agent revenueNoYesYes
Built for the buyer, not the sellerNoNoYes
CostFreeFree£349 launch month

A folio does not inspect the building and does not state what a property is worth. It reports what directly comparable properties achieved on the register.

Inside the £349 folio

Four things the listing won’t tell you.
Each one backed by hard evidence.

  • The Identity Lock

    Comparables that directly compare

    Sales are matched on type, tenure, new-build status, age band and floor band. A leasehold flat is never priced against a freehold terrace down the street.

  • The Tactical Bracket

    Where the asking price sits

    The anchor, the ceiling and the asking price on one scale, so you can see how far the listing sits from what directly comparable sales achieved.

  • The Risk Register

    What the listing leaves out

    Ten property-level checks — flood, radon, cladding, noise, conservation area, Article 4 and more — each naming its register, and each one a question to raise before you commit.

  • The costs behind the listing

    What owning it will cost

    Council Tax band from the VOA, the energy rating and likely upgrade work from the EPC register — figures a portal estimate never shows.

How a folio is commissioned

We confirm first. You pay second.

We only build a folio when the registers hold enough directly comparable sales to stand behind every number. No card is taken until we have told you they do.

  1. 01Today · no card

    You send the listing

    Postcode, asking price, address, listing URL and floor area. No payment details are taken and nothing is charged.

  2. 02Within 1 working day

    We confirm we can build it

    We check the registers hold enough directly comparable sales to stand behind every number, then email you a payment link, or a plain no at no cost.

  3. 03Once confirmed

    You pay £349

    The launch month price on requests made by 15 October, including UK VAT at 20%. £480 after that.

  4. 042 working days later

    Your folio arrives

    A private link to the finished folio — every comparable named, ten risk checks each citing its register. Share it with your solicitor, broker or surveyor.

Questions

Asked before you request.
Answered plainly.

All 16 questions
Is a Buyer Folio a valuation or a survey?

No. It is neither. A Buyer Folio is not a RICS Red Book valuation, it is not a mortgage valuation, and it is not a building survey. It cannot assess structural condition, internal layout, decorative state or hidden defects, because it works from registered data rather than a site visit. Commission a qualified RICS surveyor for physical inspection; the Folio is designed to be used alongside one, earlier in the process.

Will a Buyer Folio ever say the asking price is fair?

Yes. A Buyer Folio reports what the registered evidence shows, in either direction. If the asking price sits inside the range that directly comparable sales support, the folio says so; if it sits below what directly comparable homes have achieved, it says that too. You still receive the full offer bracket — where to open, what to aim for and when to walk away — but the finding may be that the price is fair rather than inflated.

What if my property is highly unique or rural?

We only build a folio when the registers hold enough directly comparable sales to stand behind every number: at least five sales of the same type, tenure and new-build status, after widening geography and era as far as the method permits. Most folios rest on far more; the four published sample folios use 20 to 22 each. If your property cannot meet that, we refuse to publish the folio. You are never asked to pay for research we cannot complete.

How is this different from a portal estimate?

Portal estimates are automated valuation models. They return a single figure without naming the transactions behind it, without stating the matching rules applied, and without indicating how much evidence sat underneath — you cannot audit one, and you cannot take one into a negotiation. A Buyer Folio names every comparable transaction it used, states the matching rules it applied, and discloses where its evidence was thin. It also refuses to say what a property is worth — it reports only what directly comparable properties have achieved, which is a claim that can be defended in front of an estate agent.

Can my mortgage broker or buying agent use a Folio?

Yes. A Buyer Folio is written to be read alongside your advisers, and the private link can be forwarded to your mortgage broker, buying agent, solicitor or surveyor. Mortgage brokers and buying agents who want folios for their own clients can partner with SettleIQ directly through settleiq.co.uk/partner.

Request a Folio · £349

The next step

Request the folio.

On a £500,000 purchase, the £349 launch-month price is under 0.07% of it, for the evidence behind the first number you say out loud. We send a payment link only once we’ve confirmed the evidence clears.

Request a Folio

£349 · launch price until 15 October, then £480 · billed only once we confirm

Read a redacted folio first