How to get started in strategic land

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Craig Beadle
November 26, 2020
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What is strategic land?

Strategic land is land that meets three criteria:

  • It sits outside the settlement boundaries of a town or city (usually)
  • It doesn’t currently have planning approval
  • But it has the potential for planning approval

In short, it’s land that can be taken from brownfield or greenfield status and turned into residential properties (with the right expertise). 

How strategic land deals work

If you secure planning permission for a site, there’ll be a huge uplift in the value of the land (even before the properties are built). 

Agricultural land can sell for around £8k-£15k per acre.
But with residential planning? That same land could be worth £2m+ per acre.

For that reason, many people who specialise in strategic land aren’t property developers or housebuilders themselves. Instead, they’re land promoters.

Land promotion is perfect for those with a track record of navigating the planning system. They find viable sites, secure planning permission (and that uplift in value), then sell to a developer to handle the actual build. 

That frees up the land promoters time and capital to focus on other strategic land opportunities.

How to find strategic land

Finding the right site, navigating the planning system, and securing planning permission is by no means easy. 

But get it right and there’s a lot of money to be made.

To help, we’ve put together a free eBook – Identifying Opportunities: Strategic Land.

In it, we share:

  • The four steps of a strategic land deal
  • Why it can be best to work with landowners (rather than buying a site yourself)
  • How to find strategic land deals for yourself

Strat-land-ebook-cover

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