Independent UK property intelligence — for overseas investors
Brick.sg exists to help non-resident investors, especially in Singapore, understand UK property with their eyes open. We sell no listings, take no developer lead-gen, and run no "enquire now" funnels. The product is clarity, not a sales pitch.
Most information an overseas buyer sees about UK property comes from someone trying to sell them a specific flat. Brick is the opposite: a research desk that compares cities, calculates true costs and taxes, and analyses whether a deal actually stacks up — using official data, with a source and date on every number.
Ivan Cai to supply a short founder bio, photo and independence statement — this is the trust anchor for a numbers-first site.
| Metric | Source | Refresh |
|---|---|---|
| House prices (UK / region / city) | HM Land Registry UK HPI | Monthly on release |
| Sold prices, transaction counts, £/sqft | HM Land Registry Price Paid Data (live) | Live + monthly |
| Rents (levels + growth, by area) | ONS Price Index of Private Rents | Monthly |
| Bank Rate + MPC dates | Bank of England | On MPC decisions |
| BTL mortgage rates (indicative) | Moneyfacts / lender summaries, curated | Monthly, dated |
| FX (GBP→SGD) | Frankfurter (ECB reference rates) | Daily |
| Tax rates & thresholds | gov.uk / HMRC (tax-config, verified) | On change |
| News | Official RSS; summaries written in Brick's own words | Daily |
We never scrape Rightmove or Zoopla; where we cite their index figures they are hand-transcribed from published press releases with attribution. Estimated figures (e.g. yields, area-level rents) are labelled and carry a method note. House price & rent data © Crown copyright, HM Land Registry / ONS, OGL v3.0.
Price momentum
HPI year-on-year: ≥ +4% = strong · 0–4% = neutral · < 0 = weak.
Rent momentum
ONS PIPR year-on-year: ≥ +5% = strong · 2–5% = moderate · < 2% = weak.
Mortgage environment
Favourable if Bank Rate is flat/falling and indicative 5-year fixes are below 12 months ago; difficult if both rising; else neutral.
Affordability
City price-to-rent versus that city's own 10-year average (±10% bands → attractive / reasonable / stretched).
Market balance
Composite: 2 of 3 among weak price momentum, falling transaction counts, rising rates ⇒ buyer's market; the inverse ⇒ seller's; else neutral.
City liquidity score
Quintile rank of Land Registry transaction count per 1,000 dwellings, 12-month trailing (1–5).
Brick.sg does not list property, does not take per-deal introductions from developers, and does not run sales funnels. The New-Build Tracker is editorial analysis only. Mortgage content is indicative and unbranded. If the model ever changes, it will be stated here first.