When running an analysis, you have the option to draw a custom market area anywhere in the US. This feature allows you to define markets by any size or shape you deem appropriate, all with a few clicks of your mouse.

To begin, click on blue New Analysis button on the top right of the Analyses section, give your analysis a name, and select Custom Market Evaluation from the list of options. Then Click “Site Selection.”

In the next window, there are a few ways you can add a custom market area to your analysis. The first is to draw the market area on the map using the “Draw an Area on Map” option. Zoom in on the area of interest and point and click to create a closed polygon (do not point and drag).

The second option to add a custom market area is to use the “Insert WKT Data” to copy and paste in a known WKT location, click “Load Data on Map.”

Once you’ve entered the information for your site, click Benchmarks to select your benchmark for this analysis.

The following benchmark types: MSA, County, Zip, Place, State, and Neighborhood comparison will automatically reference their respective geography based on the site selected during Step 2. Once you have selected a benchmark, click “Market Areas.”

Market Areas

When running a Custom Market Evaluation, you do not need to choose any market areas. The market area is set as the pre-defined boundaries of the market you have created. To continue, click “Supply Settings.”

The Supply Settings step allows you to edit competition in your desired market area before running an analysis. All changes made on the Supply Management page will be reflected in metric values (like penetration rates and unmet demand figures) as well as the competition lists.

Click “Assumptions” to move to the next step in the Analysis Wizard.

The assumptions tab is where you can change inputs that feed directly into the metric output calculations. Click into any unique assumption category to alter the individual assumption values. Change the assumptions to your desired values and click “Submit Analysis” to process your Analysis.

Please note that not all metrics are dependent on assumption values (Ex: Median Home Value CY), but many metrics are built so that assumption inputs can be used to customize the metric output (Ex: IL Income Qualified 75+ CY).

NOTE: If you do not alter these values, the default values will be used.