Signal vs CoStar for Office Move & Fit-Out Leads

Side by side

Different tools, different questions.

	CoStar	Signal
Core purpose	Commercial-property research: stock, availability, lease comps, transactions, market analytics.	BD prospecting: which companies are entering an office decision window, and why now.
Unit of research	The building and the deal.	The occupier — a named company, scored 0–100, with dated evidence and a contact.
Geographic focus	National and international, across property sectors.	London offices, deliberately narrow and deep.
Breadth of property data	Vast — the system of record for stock and transactions.	Thin by design — building context only where it explains the occupier (floor area, EPC).
Occupier-change scoring	Not the product. Requirements and deals appear as they surface to the market.	The entire product. Lease clocks, planning, filings and growth, combined and re-scored weekly.
Decision timing	Strongest once activity is market-visible.	Aimed at the 6–24 months before a requirement goes public.
Manual analysis required	You query, filter and interpret — research skill assumed.	Interpretation is the deliverable: ranked list, one-line why-now, timing window.
Best-fit user	Agents, investors, landlords and researchers who need the whole market picture.	Fit-out, design, furniture, AV/IT, relocation and FM teams — and agents hunting occupier-rep mandates early.

Honestly, though

Choose Signal when the Monday question is “who do we call this week?” for London office-change work. Choose CoStar when it’s “what’s the market doing, what stock exists, what did it let for?”. Use both when you’re an agency or larger team: CoStar for the market, Signal for the occupiers about to move through it — they meet in the middle of the same transaction. If you’re weighing a switch rather than a head-to-head, see the CoStar-alternative page.

Where the leads come from

Public record in, scored shortlist out.

Spot

HM Land Registry lease events, Companies House filings, local-authority planning, hiring and growth — read continuously across 155,131 London companies.

Score

Every company is ranked 0–100 by how strong, recent and combined its signals are. 60+ is in market; 80+ is imminent. Scores re-run weekly.

Act

Your dashboard opens on your patch: ranked companies, the why-now in one line, timing window, and a decision-maker to call.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Is Signal an alternative to CoStar?+

Only for one use case: finding and prioritising occupiers likely to move, refit or refurbish in London. For property research — availability, comparables, transactions — Signal is not a substitute and doesn’t try to be. Teams that only need the occupier-change use case often find a property platform is more tool than the job requires; see the CoStar-alternative page for that decision.

Is Signal cheaper than CoStar?+

CoStar pricing is quoted per organisation and not published, so we won’t invent a comparison. Signal’s pricing is public: a £1,000 30-day pilot, then £2,500/month for London coverage (plus setup). What we can say is the products are priced for different jobs — research platform versus BD lead engine.

Which is better for fit-out contractors?+

For pipeline generation, Signal — it exists to surface occupiers before a tender does, including the Cat B work that never touches planning. CoStar earns its keep where a contractor also needs building-level research or works landlord-side. Many fit-out BD teams need the timing far more than the stock data.

Signal vs CoStar: which finds office-change opportunities?

Different tools, different questions.

Public record in, scored shortlist out.

Spot

Score

Act

Questions, answered.

The same intelligence, tuned to how you sell.

See the companies behind these numbers.