Whilst reading the papers last week for juicy subjects to write about on the UK Land Agent blog, I came across an interesting story in a local northern newspaper ‘The St Helens Reporter’ which I’d like to share as it’s proof that the UK residential market is starting to recover.
The headline reads;
£100m Urban Village is a Sign of Recovery
In brief the article is referring to a deal between regeneration firm St Modwen and Jones Homes, part of The Emerson Group, who are purchasing part of a site near St Helens. Jones Homes have submitted a detailed planning application to build a new housing development on the site for 138 new homes. The land already holds outlined planning permission from St Helens Council as part of an overall development of 630 homes. The companies have exchanged contracts and deal should go through this week.
Nick Whittingham – Land Director for St Modwen said, “This sale is a real indication of recovery in the residential market. The economic climate over the past two years has seen very little in the way of residential land sales, and we see our involvement with Jones Homes as a huge step forward for the property industry”.
This article is good news for the current land investor who might be breathing a sigh of relief now that house builders are getting back on track. Also the would-be investor should take this development as a sign of good things to come and in our opinion now is the time to invest. All the signs are there now that developers are increasing their land banks and making more deals plus we’ve seen report after report of statistics about the population increasing by 4million people in the next 10 years and this means more homes have to be built!