The sale of consented development sites has always been our forte, and whilst we've diversified over the last 20 years, sites with a ticket are still our bread and butter.
Two decades ago the skill of a development agent centred on his or her relationships with the local players in the market (I still have my little black book). Nowadays the buyers come from far and wide, and marketing exposure is key. We use national advertising, social media, our 40 branch estate agency network and specialist New Homes sales division to maintain a database of around 17,000 applicants at any given time. Fortunately we're paperless, otherwise that little black book would resemble the Yellow Pages by now!
Our development team was recently instructed to manage the marketing and sale of this prime site in central Croydon. Planning permission had been secured for the demolition of the existing apartment block, and construction of two buildings comprising 43 new residential units. Affordable Housing requirements in most London boroughs are strong, and Croydon is no exception. In this case 12 of the 43 units had to be made available for affordable housing under a Section 106 Agreement; along with financial contributions and CIL of almost £600,000!
We entertained interest from private developers, Build to Rent specialists and Housing Associations, and worked hard to meet the vendor's aspirations in terms of price. Terms were agreed to a buyer not previously known to us and relative to the complexities of the site, the sale was concluded smoothly.
We achieved £4M, which equates to a little under £130,000 per private unit. Help to Buy is still very much driving demand from end-users and in turn, developers, so if you have a consented site to sell please get in touch.
PROJECT ADDRESS: 50-52 Sydenham Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 2EF
