Property agent and UK Property Forums partner Savills completed more than £272 million worth of and sales across the East of England in the first half of 2021, creating the opportunity for more than 8,500 new homes.

20 sites across Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, and Hertfordshire have planning permission for 8,692 residential units; with significant deals including a 58-acre site at Candlet Road in Felixstowe, sold to Persimmon Homes with planning for 560 properties, with a 35 per cent affordable allocation.

Another 23-acre site with permission for 225 homes was sold to Taylor Wimpey as part of the Kingsfleet development in Thetford, Norfolk, and CALA homes purchased land at Eastern Woods, part of the development at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire, which has permission for 128 properties with a 40 per cent affordable allocation.

A 21.5-acre site was sold to Barratts with permission for 336 homes at Wintringham, St Neots, and a 93-acre site to the east of Stevenage was bought by Redrow, with permission for 618 homes.

Richard Janes, who leads the development team at Savills in Cambridge, said the second quarter of the year saw a particular trend towards larger sites, “We have had a very strong first half of the year and our development land teams across the region have capitalised on the strength of the housing market in the second half of 2020, which gave land buyers more confidence. The high sales rates of last year have depleted housebuilders’ stocks of new homes and land, meaning that land replenishment will be an ongoing feature of the 2021 market.”

Andy Redman, who leads the development teams for Savills across Essex and Suffolk, said “Our research tells us land values have remained robust over the last quarter, with UK greenfield and urban values increasing by 1.7 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively, marking the strongest growth in greenfield land values since 2014. We have seen a particularly busy second quarter, with activity levels in the land market higher than in previous quarters. The momentum has continued through July, and we look forward to a busy Q3. We are seeing lots of new sites being brought forward with increasingly motivated buyers in the market and no sign of a summer lull.”

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