Research method

How we read data.

Three principles, five source families, four things we deliberately don’t do.

Three principles

Defensible facts

Each reading on Namtar Nest cites the source family it came from. If we can't show where a number came from, we don't show the number. We treat the substrate as the product, not our interpretation of it.

Honest limits

Every tool has a footprint. Our map shows what cities publish, nothing wider. Our dossier reads parcels with mixed coverage by neighbourhood. Our fee predictor projects patterns, not your specific building. We surface the limit at the point it matters.

No verdict

We don't rate your home. We don't tell you whether to buy, sell, or wait. We compile facts you can carry to the people who do make those decisions — your realtor, lawyer, accountant, financial advisor. The verdict is theirs and yours.

Where our facts come from

Five public-data families fund every cited reading — no paid feeds, no MLS licensing. When you paste a listing link, we also read that public page and show it separately, labelled as the listing’s own figures.

Bank of Canada

Interest rate decisions, prediction splits across Canada's largest banks, bond yields.

Statistics Canada

Housing price indices, census-grain demographics, household economic data.

CMHC

Rental market data at the sub-CMA grain, reserve fund study patterns, housing market reports.

Provincial real estate boards

Listing data, sold prices, and market reports in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.

Municipal open data

Zoning, heritage, permits, development applications, property tax rolls, transit infrastructure.

What we don’t do

We don't predict your home's value.

Algorithmic valuations are someone else's product.

We don't rank or score neighbourhoods.

Choropleth maps show what cities publish — not who deserves to live where.

We don't use realtor opinion.

Reading the substrate is the point. Marketing copy is not substrate.

We don't aggregate user reviews of buildings.

We have no truth claim about who lives well in any given tower.

Our method

Defensible facts. Honest limits. No verdict on your home.

This page is the method behind every fact we cite. The tools are above.

How we read data →