The question a viewing cannot answer
A viewing shows you one hour of one day. A south-facing balcony sounds decisive until the block across the street turns out to be two storeys taller than the one in the photo.
Enter the address, and the sun hours report gives you the hours of daylight that actually reach it: today, at midsummer, at the equinox and at midwinter, with the morning, midday and evening shares separated.
Check a home's sunlight before the viewing
- Search for the address on the map.
- Tap the balcony, the garden or the side of the building where the main windows are, rather than the middle of the roof.
- Open the sun hours report. Hours of sun today and at midsummer are free; the equinox, midwinter and the full year are part of Pro.
- Compare the morning, midday and evening shares with how you will actually use the rooms.
- At the viewing, check what the map cannot know: trees, the balcony above, awnings and fences.
Why midwinter is the number that matters
Almost everywhere gets sun in June. The figure that separates a bright flat from a dark one is December, when the sun barely clears the roofline opposite and a courtyard can drop to under an hour.
The report shows both ends of the year side by side, so you can see the range rather than the best case.
Balconies, gardens and the spot the table goes
Sun exposure is not uniform across a property. Tap the balcony rather than the building and you get the timeline for that point. Do the same for the far end of the garden and you will usually get a different answer.
Where a place is tagged on the building rather than on its outdoor space, the app measures from the sun-facing wall, which is the closest honest approximation it can make.
What to treat with caution
Building heights are sometimes derived from floor counts rather than measured, so a single storey of error is possible. Trees, fences and awnings are not part of the calculation. Where an area is thinly mapped, the app says so and treats the result as an upper bound rather than a measurement.
Use it to shortlist and to ask better questions at the viewing, not as a survey.
Common questions
How do I find out how much sun a house gets?
Search for the address and open the sun hours report. It gives the hours of direct sun for that spot today and at midsummer, split into morning, midday and evening, worked out from the outlines and heights of the surrounding buildings. Pro adds the equinox, midwinter and the full year.
Can I check an address I have never visited?
Yes. The app works almost anywhere: coverage is best in European cities and good in most large cities elsewhere. Where the building data is thin, the app says so instead of showing an empty map.
Is it accurate enough to rely on when buying?
Use it to shortlist and to ask better questions, not as a survey. Building heights are sometimes derived from floor counts, so a storey of error is possible, and trees, fences and awnings are not part of the calculation.
Can an estate agent use it to describe a listing?
The figures can be checked for any address by anyone, so they are a fair way to answer the question buyers ask about light. Sharing a spot with a link is free. The same caveats apply: describe the result as where the sun can reach, not as a measurement.
Why does the winter figure matter more than the summer one?
Almost every home gets sun in June. In December the sun is low enough that the building opposite can block it for most of the day, so the midwinter figure is what separates a bright home from a dark one.
