Savills reflect on more than £200 million of land sales across Midlands
A Midlands property team has revealed it advised on more than £200 million of land sales during 2022.
The Savills Midlands development team, including its team in the firm’s Birmingham office, worked on major deals including 950 units to Bellway Homes in Sutton Coldfield, which forms part of Birmingham’s largest urban extension.
For the fifth consecutive year, the total represents the sale of more than 5,000 consented housing plots, which in 2022 was achieved across 26 separate sites throughout the East and West Midlands and equated to approximately 400 acres of development land sold during the year.
Despite market challenges, the Midlands land market has remained robust according to Andrew Galloway, joint head of development at Savills in the Midlands. “To deliver on over 5,000 plots for a fifth year in a row, in light of the challenges faced last year, is testament to the team’s capabilities and the diverse markets we have position ourselves in.” he said.
“We have been amazed by the resilience of all our markets over the past few years when faced with a once in a generation level of disruption. The deals agreed demonstrate really positive signs in the region’s housing market and each will bring much needed housing across the Midlands, some of which are already coming to fruition in our core markets such as Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield.
"Secondary locations in the East and West Midlands have experienced greater demand as more parties consider these locations in order to secure pipeline.”
Looking to the year ahead, Mr Galloway added: “Land values have been supported up to now by an ongoing scarcity of sites given the delays to Local Plan production in some areas, under resourced planning departments and continued political uncertainty.
"As a consequence, we are producing far fewer planning consents than at the previous peak in 2019. But there have also been mounting pressures on land values. After a period of exceptional strength, house prices have started to slow, build costs continue to rise and we won’t be able to rely on government backed initiatives like Help to Buy moving forward.
"Commercial land faces similar challenges as financial markets bear down on operational markets and we expect the logistics market to come back strongly this year after a period of adjustment. However, the cities in the Midlands will maintain a key advantage over comparable markets, especially on affordability.”
