Property agent completes £89m of land sales in first half
Property agent Savills completed more than £89m worth of land sales across the Midlands in the first half of 2021.
The 13 sites are spread across Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands and Northamptonshire, and have planning permission for 2,252 residential units.
Significant deals in the region included a 139 acre site at Priorslee in Telford which sold to Miller Homes, with planning for 1,100 homes.
The team sold the University of Northampton’s Avenue Campus to West Northamptonshire Council, paving the way for 170 affordable homes.
Elsewhere in the region, the Savills development team sold two sites in the village of Calverton to the north of Nottingham, with plans for 434 new homes in total.
Flatts Lane sold to Bellway Homes with outline planning permission for 84 homes, while the site at Park Road in the village sold to Persimmon Homes with full planning permission for 350 residential units.
The half year figure is double the value achieved compared to the same period last year and is a 48% increase over the three year average for H1.
Andrew Galloway, who leads the development team at Savills in Birmingham and Nottingham, said the second quarter of the year saw a particular trend towards larger sites.
He said: “We have had a very strong first half of the year and our development land teams across the UK have capitalized on the strength of the housing market in the second half of 2020, which gave land buyers more confidence. The high sales rates of last year have depleted housebuilders’ stocks of new homes and land, meaning that land replenishment will be an ongoing feature of the 2021 market.”
Ann Taylor, director in the Savills Nottingham development team, adds: “Our research tells us land values have remained robust over the last quarter with UK greenfield and urban values increasing by 1.7% and 1.8% respectively, marking the strongest growth in greenfield land values since 2014. We have seen a particularly busy second quarter, with activity levels in the land market higher than previous quarters. The momentum has continued through July and August and we look forward to a busy Q3. We are seeing lots of new sites being brought forward with increasingly motivated buyers in the market and no sign of a summer lull.”
