Perils portfolio

Citation

(1998), "Perils portfolio", Property Management, Vol. 16 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.1998.11316dab.014

Perils portfolio

Perils portfolio

Perils for every domestic property in Britain

The first comprehensive database of perils for every domestic property in Great Britain is to be launched by Experian, the global information solutions provider. Experian's Perils Data Portfolio will contain a nationwide database on the risk of subsidence, flood, wind damage and household theft, for every domestic property in the UK.

At the heart of the Perils Data Portfolio will be a new residential property database containing a list of all domestic housing stock in Great Britain ­ a total of 24 million residences through over 1.4 million postcodes.

Information will include the type, size and age of every property in Britain, including 3.2 million flats and all 1.6 million new properties constructed since the last census.

The database has been derived from sources exclusive to Experian, such as 8.5 million records from Experian's Lifestyle Surveys. It also includes information from more than 2.3 million building society property transactions.

The new data will have significant implications for many market sectors ­ particularly for insurance, property and construction. In the insurance sector, it will enable more accurate premium setting, improved risk management, exposure analysis and increased efficiency in claims handling.

The first phase of Experian's Perils Data Portfolio ­ housing stock, subsidence, flood, wind, household theft ­ will be available by the autumn with further perils information ­ including a commercial property Perils Data Portfolio ­ becoming available later next year.

Taking each peril separately:

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  Subsidence ­ In partnership with the Meteorological Office and geological consultants Hydrock Consultants Ltd, Experian has combined geological, pedalogical, topographical, housing, potential soil moisture deficit data with other factors such as underground mining information, to produce a propensity model for subsidence at full postcode level. The strength of this model ­ unlike others in the market today ­ is that it has not overly relied on any single source of data. Furthermore, Experian is the first company to make potential soil moisture deficit (PSMD) data commercially available. In addition to the overall subsidence model Experian, is developing an exposure/predictive service for subsidence that will produce an indictor of the potential number of claims for any insurance company up to 12 months in advance.

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  Flood ­ As a result of a special partnership with the Environment Agency, Experian has access to Environment Agency data at full postcode level throughout England and Wales. Using all the combined data sets and ongoing hydrodynamic modelling updated on a six monthly basis, Experian can predict the propensity for flooding, indicating whether a postcode falls within a flood plain and the seriousness of the potential flood. It will also take into account the quality of flood defences in existence and whether the flood risk is one of salt or fresh water.

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  Wind ­ New modelling techniques developed between the Meteorological Office and one of the foremost wind engineers will enable Experian to assess the potential loss factor for different ages of housing taking into account location and the quality of building materials. The wind modelling process has been refined to take into account different features and combined with housing information at postcode unit level. This information will prove invaluable to both the construction industry when selecting material and siting property, and also the insurance industry when deciding where to allocate limited loss adjusting resources when assessing the validity of claims.

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  Theft ­ Experian has utilised Home Office information combined with demographics and a household theft model data, to build a full postcode level model of propensity to suffer household burglary.

Sue Hall, director and general manager of Experian's Insurance Services Division, commented: "Perils Data Portfolio provides invaluable new data that will help the insurance, property and construction industries. For the first time, insurers and other industry sectors will be furnished with a comprehensive package of risk evaluation tools in order to assess every domestic property in the UK.

"The Perils Data Portfolio has been developed in such a way as to offer a seamless interface across all three areas of an insurer's business ­ underwriting, claims and marketing. The information can be available to companies as raw data, a generic model or bespoke models which can be delivered into a client's existing mapping system or other products."