Landowners
The four things that drive what a developer will pay for your land: planning, environmental factors, statutory requirements and site conditions.
Lukasz Kisiel
29 October 2021
Thinking of selling your land and want to understand its potential value? Whether you sell the whole plot or part of it, it pays to understand what drives the price.
Value depends on how viable it is to develop the land. The main considerations are planning, environmental impact, statutory requirements and the site itself.
Understand the council’s planning policy to see whether the likely type of development would be approved. The style and size of housing must fit the local plan.
Planning approval increases land value. Developers will look for the optimum number of homes, but over-developing a site to chase a bigger return can lead to refusal, which reduces the value.
Brownfield sites are most likely to get planning, because building on Green Belt is strictly controlled. For developers, the main issue is the cost of cleaning up the land before building, so likely contamination reduces what a developer will pay.
Undisturbed brownfield sites can be richer in plants and wildlife than farmland, as nature quickly re-establishes itself, so biodiversity surveys help establish the position.
Sustainability matters more and more to buyers and planners, so features like electric vehicle charging and car clubs are increasingly part of new homes.
Building regulations control design, especially fire safety, sound insulation and privacy, and design constraints can raise build costs and reduce the achievable return.
New homes must meet minimum space standards, which can limit how many fit on a plot. Even where the number of homes is acceptable, traffic and congestion can be an issue.
Ground investigations check for contamination and show what foundations will be needed to support the building.
Flood risk is increasingly important, and land not at risk today may be in future decades.
New housing puts extra demand on drainage. Larger schemes may need features such as attenuation tanks, which store rainwater and release it gradually into the drains.
Ask half a dozen people to value a plot and you may get six answers. That is why it is worth talking to people with development experience who can weigh up all of these factors. Our guide on how to value a building plot explains the method developers use, and you can find out more about selling land to a developer.
Tell us about it. You will speak to the people who make the decisions.
