The Brickplot Score — 11-Axis Methodology
Last updated: May 2026 · Brickplot Editorial
Why 11 Axes?
Indian real estate advisory is structurally broken. Brokers earn from the seller. Portal rankings are sold. "Expert opinions" are written by people who have never read an encumbrance certificate. The result: buyers pay crores for apartments without knowing whether the RERA registration is valid, the builder has a history of delivery, or the location faces flood risk.
Brickplot's response is a mechanical formula. The 11 axes capture every dimension that materially affects whether a buyer will get possession on time, in good condition, and at fair value. Weights are fixed. No analyst can override the formula output. No builder can pay to improve their score. Hard-cap tripwires fire automatically when a legal or regulatory red flag is confirmed — they cannot be "balanced" by positive scores elsewhere.
The formula uses the same 11 axes and hard caps for every project in every city. A ₹50L flat in Noida is graded against its affordable peers; a ₹5Cr flat in Bandra is graded against its luxury peers. The framework is the same. The verdict is always comparable.
The 11 Axes (Apartments)
Weights sum to 100%. Each axis is scored 0–10 and multiplied by its weight before summing to the final score.
| Axis | Weight | What we measure |
|---|---|---|
| Legal & Title Cleanliness | 16% | Sub-registrar EC (30-yr), DLR/Bhulekh land records, NCLT/IBBI case search, eCourts, ED/SFIO press releases, khata/patta records. |
| RERA Disclosure Quality | 10% | State RERA portal QPRs, complaint dashboard, extension count, financial disclosures, Form-3 CA certs. |
| Builder Financial Health | 12% | MCA-21 filings, CIBIL Commercial, listed-co quarterly results, bond ratings (CRISIL/ICRA), SPV vs parent net-worth gap. |
| Verified Buyer Sentiment | 8% | Site-visit surveys (n≥30), possession-cohort follow-ups at 6/12/24 months, RWA interviews, Google Reviews with bot-filter. |
| Bank Loan-Approval Depth | 6% | APF lists from SBI, HDFC, LIC HF, ICICI, Axis — a bank putting its money on title is the cleanest independent legal proxy. |
| Location, Infrastructure & Climate Risk | 14% | Master plans (BDA/HMDA/DDA), metro DPR timelines, Sentinel-2 5-yr imagery, CWC flood-hazard atlas, CPCB AQI history, BIS seismic zoning, industrial-cluster register. |
| Value & Price Trajectory | 9% | Sub-registrar transaction data, Brickplot price-tracker (segment-normalised), RERA new-launch register for forward supply within 2 km. |
| Construction & Delivery Risk | 9% | Drone/satellite imagery (monthly), RERA QPR vs actual progress, OC/CC validity, snag-list density for RTM projects. |
| Governance & Approvals Depth | 5% | Environmental clearance, fire NOC, AAI height NOC, water/sewage NOC, plan-sanction validity. |
| Liveability & Build Quality | 6% | Approved FAR, units/acre, specs sheet (brand audit), BWSSB/Cauvery vs borewell yield, STP commissioning, parking ratio, fire-system audit, balcony depth. |
| Investment Yield & Exit Liquidity | 5% | Brickplot rental tracker (12-month median), days-on-market from SRO data, IT-corridor employment density, society CAM/sqft, municipal property-tax rate. |
Hard Caps
Hard caps are automatic score ceilings that fire when a specific risk condition is confirmed. They override the weighted average — a project with hard caps active cannot score above the cap no matter how strong the other axes are. This prevents the formula from being gamed by stacking positives against a critical negative.
| Condition | Maximum Score |
|---|---|
| No valid RERA registration | ≤ 4.9 |
| Promoter / parent in NCLT or IBC admitted | ≤ 3.9 |
| Active ED, SFIO or CBI investigation | ≤ 3.9 |
| Promoter convicted of cheating/forgery (last 7 yrs) | ≤ 3.5 |
| Construction stalled > 18 months | ≤ 4.4 |
| Title encumbrance unresolved + EC pending mortgage | ≤ 4.4 |
| Zero banks in APF list (post-launch > 12 months) | ≤ 5.4 |
| OC missing on RTM project > 6 months post-handover | ≤ 5.4 |
| CWC Category-A flood zone, no engineered mitigation | ≤ 5.4 |
| No commissioned STP at OC (> 50-unit project) | ≤ 5.9 |
| Parking ratio < 1.0 per unit in Premium / Luxury / Ultra | ≤ 6.4 |
| Borewell-only water in Cauvery/Krishna Stage-V deficit zone | ≤ 6.4 |
| CPCB 5-yr annual-avg AQI > 200 within 2 km | ≤ 6.9 |
The full list of hard caps with sub-conditions is published in the Brickplot Score page and the Score Rubric.
Verdict Thresholds
After hard caps are applied, the final score maps to one of three verdicts:
Plot Scoring
Plotted developments use a parallel 11-axis formula with adjustments for plot-specific risk factors: DC conversion status, zoning / land use, utility readiness (BESCOM, water within 500m), and soil bearing capacity replace apartment-specific axes like STP and parking. RERA weight drops from 16% to a compliance-check weighting because plot-RERA enforcement is patchy across states.
See the full plot scoring methodology →Data Sources
Every axis is scored from public-record data only — no builder-supplied materials, no sponsored disclosures. Primary sources include:
- Legal & title: Sub-registrar EC (30-yr), Bhulekh/DLR land records, NCLT/IBBI case search, eCourts, ED/SFIO press releases.
- RERA: State RERA portals — QPRs, Form-3 CA certificates, complaint dashboards, extension history.
- Builder financials: MCA-21 annual filings, CRISIL/ICRA ratings, CIBIL Commercial, listed-company quarterly results.
- Construction: Satellite imagery (monthly), RERA QPR vs actual progress comparison, OC/CC validity.
- Price: Sub-registrar transaction data, Brickplot price tracker, segment-normalised velocity.
- Location: BDA/HMDA/DDA master plans, metro DPR timelines, Sentinel-2 5-yr series, commute isochrones.
- Buyer sentiment: Site-visit surveys (n≥30), possession-cohort follow-ups at 6/12/24 months.
Editorial Independence
Brickplot accepts no money from builders, developers, brokers, or anyone with a financial stake in a project's score. If you pay us, you are a reader. Scores are recomputed when material new data arrives — a new QPR, a court order, a rating downgrade. If a builder disputes a score, they may submit a written request with contradicting public-record evidence. We review and update if the evidence is verifiable. We do not remove negative scores on request.
See also: Editorial Policy and How We Make Money.
Known Limitations & Risk Register
No data-driven scoring system is perfect. Brickplot publishes this risk register so readers can judge the reliability of each score axis and know where to look harder before committing money.
We believe transparency about our own limitations is a prerequisite for editorial credibility. Each risk below is actively monitored and mitigated by the team responsible.
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation | Owner | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RERA portal downtime / data lag | High | Medium | Nightly scrape + 30-day cache; manual flag if >30 days stale | Editorial | Quarterly |
| Single-source price bias | Medium | High | Cross-reference NHB ResidEx + micromarket cron; disclosed on page | Editorial | Quarterly |
| AQI station coverage gaps | Medium | Medium | Nearest-station fallback; disclose station distance on badge | Engineering | Quarterly |
| Construction-progress data lag | High | Low | Disclosed as "last verified: DATE" on each page | Editorial | Monthly |
| Scrape-blocker / anti-bot measures | Medium | Medium | Rotate user-agents; human fallback for Telangana RERA | Engineering | Monthly |
| Score cap editorial error | Low | High | Requires 2-reviewer sign-off; human-only gate in code | Editorial | Per-publish |
| Methodology disputes resolution delay | Low | Medium | 48h ack SLA; 14-day decision SLA; public log planned | Editorial | Monthly |
| Geographic coverage gaps | High | Low | Current coverage: KA, MH, HR, TN, TS; disclosed in about-us | Editorial | Quarterly |
This risk register is reviewed quarterly. Last reviewed: May 2026.
Submit a Correction
If you have evidence that any axis score is wrong — a RERA document, sub-registrar deed, satellite image, or builder filing — submit it here. We will acknowledge within 48 hours and issue a decision within 14 days.