Publication

Market in Minutes: UK Residential Development Land – July 2017

Housing associations, along with small and medium-sized housebuilders, are providing greater diversity to the traditional range of land buyers. With new finance and incentives, they are building more too

There is a more diverse range of land buyers in the market. Housing associations, along with small and medium-sized housebuilders, are purchasing more land – 89% more plots were sold to small housebuilders and 22% more plots were sold to medium-sized housebuilders in the last year.

As well as buying more land, small and medium-sized housebuilders are building more homes, supported by government funds and accessible finance for those with a good track record. Medium-sized housebuilders Fairview and Gleeson built 76% and 20% more homes in the last year.

Urban land values continue to increase across the country, whereas greenfield land values have remained relatively stable during the last quarter. Land values grew 1.0% for urban sites and 0.2% for greenfield land in Q2 2017.

Land in Bristol is attracting interest from Build to Rent, international and London-based developers thanks to its strong and growing economy. This follows the focus on the larger regional cities of Birmingham and Manchester.

Medium-sized housebuilders are growing in their ambition and buying larger sites, particularly of 100-250 plots. This size of site still remains the most popular for the major housebuilders.

Articles within this publication

1 article(s) in this publication