UK Market Intelligence API — Local Economy, Competition & Opportunity Scoring
Management consultants charge £5,000-50,000 for market entry reports. They spend weeks assembling data from ONS, Land Registry, and Companies House into PowerPoint decks. The Market Intelligence endpoint delivers the quantitative foundation of that analysis in 200 milliseconds: local labour market conditions from Nomis, property market context from Land Registry, competitor density from Companies House, and a proprietary Market Opportunity Score that synthesises it all. It won’t write the strategy deck, but it provides the numbers that drive the conclusions.
What You Get
- •Location context: postcode, local authority, and region identification
- •Labour market: median weekly earnings, employment rate percentage, claimant count for the local authority
- •Property market: average price over 12 months, transaction volume, dominant property type in the area
- •Competition analysis: competitor count for a specified sector, top matching companies with status (requires sector parameter)
- •Market Opportunity Score (0-100): proprietary composite rating with HIGH/MODERATE/LOW classification and contributing factors
- •Population context: local authority and LSOA identifiers for further research
Data Sources
Nomis (ONS)
The Office for National Statistics’ labour market data service. Provides the most granular UK earnings, employment, and benefit claimant data at local authority and ward level. Updated monthly for claimant counts and quarterly for earnings.
HM Land Registry
Price Paid Data covering 24M+ residential property transactions since 1995. Queried via SPARQL for area-level averages, transaction volumes, and price trends. The definitive source for UK property market analysis.
Companies House
The register of 5M+ UK companies. Used here for competitor density analysis — counting active companies by SIC code or keyword within a given area to assess market saturation.
Postcodes.io (ONS)
Postcode resolution to administrative geography, linking the query location to the correct local authority, ward, and LSOA for data retrieval from other sources.
Scoring Algorithm
Market Opportunity Score
Composite of labour market strength (employment rate, earnings), property market activity (transaction volume, price trends), and competition density (fewer competitors = higher opportunity). A score above 65 indicates favourable conditions for market entry.
Use Cases
Franchise Territory Selection
Franchise operators evaluate territories before granting licences. The Market Opportunity Score combined with competitor density reveals which postcodes have high demand and low competition — the ideal combination for a new franchisee. Run batch calls across 50 postcodes to rank territories in seconds.
Commercial Real Estate Investment
Property funds assess local economic fundamentals before acquiring commercial assets. Employment rates, earnings trends, and property transaction volumes indicate whether an area can sustain commercial rents. This data typically requires hiring a research analyst for a week.
Startup Location Planning
Founders choosing where to base their company need to balance talent availability (employment rates, earnings benchmarks), office costs (property prices), and market density (competition analysis). One API call per candidate city replaces days of manual research.
Government Grant Applications
Businesses applying for regional development grants need to demonstrate local economic context. Claimant counts, employment rates, and market opportunity data provide the quantitative evidence that grant applications require.
Example
Request
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \ "https://www.ukdatapi.com/api/v1/market/M1%201AE?depth=standard§or=fintech"
Response
{
"data": {
"location": { "postcode": "M1 1AE", "local_authority": "Manchester", "region": "North West" },
"labour_market": { "median_weekly_earnings": 571, "employment_rate_pct": 73.2, "claimant_count": 28450 },
"property_market": { "avg_price_12m": 245000, "transactions_12m": 1820, "dominant_type": "flats" },
"competition": { "query": "fintech", "matching_companies": 142, "top_competitors": [{ "name": "ZUTO LIMITED", "company_number": "07603628", "status": "active" }] },
"market_opportunity": { "score": 72, "rating": "HIGH", "factors": ["Strong employment rate", "Growing transaction volume", "Moderate competition density"] }
}
}Pricing
| Depth | Credits |
|---|---|
| Summary | 5 |
| Standard | 15 |
| Full | 30 |
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