The first quarter of 2013 has seen a noticeable change in sentiment in the residential land market, according to Alder King’s residential development team, with land deals being concluded much more quickly and an improved supply of consented land coming to market.
This increased activity is causing some house builders’ land buying teams to become more selective and discard secondary land holdings.
Chris Haworth, partner at Alder King, says: “House builders certainly appear more confident about the market through this first quarter of the year, no doubt buoyed by the support offered to the housing sector in last month’s Budget. They are reporting increased sales volumes across the South West, although this is yet to be reflected in higher sales values. As a result, house builders are more active and committed to deals.
“Whether as a direct consequence or a coincidence, we are also witnessing an improvement in the supply of consented land coming to the market. Interestingly a side effect of this increased activity is that some land buying teams are finding their resources over-stretched and as a result they are becoming more selective and discarding secondary sites.”
So far this year Alder King’s residential development team has acted on the sale or purchase of over 15 development sites across the South West. In Bristol, it secured on behalf of Firmstone Developments the purchase of a 14 acre site at Wesley College, Westbury on Trym in Bristol for a care home, flat conversion and new build; the sale on behalf of a private landowner of a four acre site in Bishop Sutton for a 30 unit scheme; and the conclusion of a promotion agreement on a 50 acre site in Frome with Hallam Land Management on behalf of private landowners for a 500 unit scheme.
Mr Haworth adds that another significant indicator of the strength of the residential land market was the successful sale of three MOD sites at Foxhill, Warminster Road and Ensleigh in Bath. “There was some doubt that these sites, comprising circa £65m of land sales, would go through unconditionally, a pre-requirement of the sale process but all three went through prior to 5th April 2013 deadline.”
