Factors Affecting Land Investment
This document outlines more of the factors that will affect your choice of investment land for sale, and some of the terms used in the industry. It also some answers general questions you might have about investment land for sale.
Wealth of local area
No one wants to buy land in a deprived area.
Houses tend to be built in the more affluent areas as this is where housing demand is (hence pushing house prices up). In the North, Councils demolish housing estates whilst in the South the house demand is such that Key workers cannot afford buy the most basic of houses.
The wealth of the population and the average house prices can be found from web on sites such as upmystreet.co.uk. By keying in the local postcode one will be informed of the "type" of house occupant in the locality, the crime rate, local MP and local school results.
Detached house prices
Investment land for sale can generally be thought to be worth one third of your house price. The higher the prices of detached houses the higher the value of your land when planning permission is granted.
Does land in the locality sell well?
Most investors will take their profits and sell their land to builders on gaining outline planning permission. You should ensure that there is will be a market for your investment land once it gains planning permission.
How long before Planning Permission is granted?
The first thing to say is that one cannot guarantee that planning permission will be granted at any point in the future – even when British blue-chip corporate giant Vodafone built their HQ on green belt land in Newbury – they were not sure that they would gain the planning permission for the development.
Telephone any local planning office and they will insist that the green field land you are considering purchasing does not stand the remotest change of being built upon. It may, therefore, come as a surprise that the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, allows 40% of all new buildings to be constructed on these supposedly sacred Greenfield sites!
Remember that your local planning department is a Council body – and they want the public's vote. They are pragmatic, and will therefore only contemplate and carry out acts that serve their own survival. Admitting to the public that they intend to build on green belt land for sale at a time close to any local elections is obviously not very politically expedient for them!
Allowing new houses on Greenfield sites is a sure fire way of losing votes – hence all councils are publicly against the building of new houses on green fields - yet tens of thousands of houses get built on green fields each year!
John Prescott is tired of the political games the Planning Departments play, as the housing requirements in counties such as Herts, Essex, Sussex, Kent, Bucks, Berks, Surrey and London has reached critical levels. He has stated that he will be removing their powers and replacing them with non-elected bodies.
Learn more about Planning Permission >
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