The CDRC Residential Property Counts (LSOA Geography) dataset provides yearly small area estimates (1997-2022) of the number of ‘active’ residential properties within each neighbourhood (Lower layer Super Output Area (LSOA: England and Wales), Data Zone (DZ: Scotland) and Super Output Area (SOA: Northern Ireland)) in the UK.

Acquiring historical lifecycle information about individual properties in the UK poses challenges, as most data providers primarily focus on monitoring 'active' properties for facilitating mail and package deliveries around the country.

The CDRC Residential Property Counts uses a large dataset tracing the names and addresses of more than one billion individuals dating back to 1997 (LCRs: Linked Consumer Registers) to calibrate property lifecycle information within an authoritative geolocated address and property dataset. The CDRC Residential Property Counts data allow researchers to take a temporal perspective (limited to the years pertaining to 1997-2022) on, for instance, the geography and development of the residential housing stock in the UK. Potential applications include assessing changes in geography and levels of vulnerability in the context of extreme weather events like droughts and floods at the small area level.

While property counts are technically not considered as personal data under the GDPR, counts of LSOAs with fewer than 10 properties are obfuscated. This is done by replacing the estimates with a random number ranging from 1-9. Estimates of geolocated active properties for each year between 1997 and 2022 are available as a secure dataset (see link below).

For detailed description of the columns contained within the data, see the Variable Dictionary; and for an overview of the characteristics of the data, see the Data Summary. These files can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

Quality, Representation and Bias

As the dataset is compiled by combining data from various organisations, data products, and providers, it is unlikely to contain 100% of all individual residential properties in the specified time period. The underpinning data consists of addresses contained in the CDRC Linked Consumer Registers (LCRs), with their provenance outlined in two papers (see below). Consumer and administrative data were acquired directly or indirectly from multiple providers without warranties about accuracy or coverage, consistent with industry practices. Rigorous internal and external validation procedures were developed to render diverse data formats consistent and establish the provenance of consolidated registers. Known shortcomings in the data and an overall assessment of quality are detailed in peer-reviewed research papers.

Discrepancies in the quality of counts among the different countries of the UK may exist, given that estimates rely on successful linkage (‘matching’) of properties recorded in the address database and properties captured in the LCRs. Matching success rates vary among individual countries, with match rates in England and Wales generally exceeding those in Northern Ireland and Scotland. The number of active properties in the latter two countries might therefore be underestimated.