Looking into doing a self-build house and have an eye on a few plots (on a local, private estate). They don’t normally sell off land but the estate is struggling a little and I know the manager/lady of the estate and hoping there might be an opportunity to buy up a small piece.
Any idea how to work out how much land is worth, to see if it’s a feasible venture?
I know they’ll put a price on it, if they do decide it can be sold, but I’m just trying to get an idea of what it might be worth.
It’s approx 1/2 acre of Christmas tree plantation in Worcestershire and thinking of putting a 4 bed, double garage/car-port and maybe a small, self-contained single storey studio on..
Any input greatly received 🙂

The land will be considerably cheaper without planning permission. It will also be considerably more risky…

Supply and demand + planning permission

If it’s not got pp than it’s just forestry land.
You need to decide if you want to take a punt
You apply once you own it or
The current owner gets it and then reflects it in the price.

Maybe speak to the local development control officers in the council.

Leigh Sinton way?

Basic rule of thumb for Worcestershire

£10-15k per acre for pasture/utility land, for plots of 3+ acre
However, you are v unlikely to either a) buy a plot that stands much chance of PP for housing for anything like pasture prices or b) do so without a hefty overage clause on it for when you do get PP.

Self build plots are in the order of £100-200k depending on location and size of PP.

Method of finding land value, very roughly, is
House Price value (say £400 k for 4bed/1,500 sq ft in Leigh Sinton)
Less £150 psf build price (£225k)
Less 20% profit (say £60k)
= Land value (£115k) say.

Formula for building land with planning permission is basically =

(Estimated selling price of final house) less (cost of building house) less (Developer premium/profit) = Land value

If no planning permission then you and the seller are basing the cost on your views of the liklihood of getting it (though the usual thing is to put a clause into the sale with a premium paid if PP is granted)

Thanks all, will look into things a bit more and see if I can get any info out of the local Planning office.

Leigh Sinton way?

Madresfield 🙂

While the formula gives the value that doesn’t mean it’s the retail price. I’d be very surprised if an an estate was willing to give up half an acre of working land for around £100k. Also half an acre is enough for a few properties so that skews the figures a bit if you only want to build one. Have a look on rightmove and the like for land for sale to give you an idea. Anything with even an outside chance of planning goes for big money.

£100k is per plot, not for the 1/2 acre

Madresfield

You’ll be lucky, sunshine!

(BTW Steve, I kind of do this for a living FWIW 😉 so if you want to chat about it over a beer, invite yourself down towards Welland to catch up. I also built my own house as a self build on bought “plot”)

The land is about 1/2 acre but we would probably only need 1/3 – 1/2 of that. The rest could be left as it is.
It’s a bit of an unknown for the estate as they’ve never sold land off before.

You’ll be lucky, sunshine!

Yeah, I know….if you don’t ask though, and all that. We’ve strong ties to the village as my folks lived there (mum still does) since 1975 and dad worked on the estate for 35 years. Probably won’t make a jot of difference though..

Ah, that’s good to know. I may well hold you to that beer in the near future, thanks 🙂

It’s a bit of an unknown for the estate as they’ve never sold land off before.

Indeed. But then it did inspire Brideshead Revisited!

Yes, and the series was supposed to have been filmed around the estate but didn’t happen in the end.
My mum nursed Lord Beauchamp in his later years, that must be worth something too 😉

Buy land, cut trees down in centre, build house, live secretly for a few years. I think there’s a few that have done it that way….

Its something like 10yrs for change of use for resi, unlike 4yrs for non change of use PP.

And the courts might find that the clock only starts ticking from the point of ability to be discovered, so if you concealed the dwelling then cut down the trees 10yrs later with a triumphant “tadaaaaa”, they can still send in the bulldozers as that chap who built his “castle” behind a load of bales next to a scrap yard did. Persoanlly I think they should have let him off because its not like tghe development had a negative impact on the already shitty area, but he was wrong to try and play the game like that.

that ^ did cross my mind 😆

As above price varies hugely based on desirability of location and ease of build inc access to electricity and water supply. An example from Hampshire, land next to may parents hiuse has been an empty field for 30 years as owner could not get planning, recently sold for about £40k and buyers have been dissapointed as it doesn’t look like they will get planning (no surprise). If land is sold without planning seller often adds a covenent giving them a percentage of finished property value if a house is built.

Sadly buying land for property building is very difficult in this country. Also local developers have “relationships” with agents (ie they are paid retainers/brown envelopes, guranteed selling agent comission) so anything attractive rarely on the open market.

You’ll need a thick skin to make if happen. Best of luck.

Leigh Sinton way?

Judging by the past attempts (successful and otherwise) in Leigh Sinton it would be a big fight for PP there. Not sure if Madresfield would be much better, but certainly wouldn’t be any harder.