It's lift off for house building this year says CJH Land 28th January 2014

New housing will start hitting levels not seen since the beginning of the downturn over the next 12 months, according to land and development specialists CJH Land. 

CJH Land Director Matthew Hiles says regional and national housebuilders are all planning more ambitious programmes than they have for the past five years, with mothballed sites going ahead again as well as new sites planned.

“It’s clear that pent-up demand will trigger starts on a great deal more sites in 2014 as developers adjust their status from cautious to confident.

“We are seeing very strong demand for good quality locations as housebuilders look to increase their output.

“There are good indicators of consistency and stability in the housing market and we have not seen a correspondingly huge increase in prices in the South West.

CJH Land has brokered a number of headline deals around Bristol during the past 12 months including major housing schemes at Emersons Green and Filton. They are also helping to open up additional sites in the Midsomer Norton area.

Matthew Hiles said developers were naturally keen to make a start on flat, greenfield sites in good locations with planning permissions, which allowed them to be on site within 12 months.

“These sites are usually found on the edge of existing settlements in semi-rural locations. But brownfield sites in inner city areas requiring high density development to make them viable will still attract development - if the deal is right.”

“There are still plenty of sites out there that are going to need local authority or government help to get off the ground. If local authorities want to see these eyesore sites regenerated they will have to continue to be more flexible on potential sticking points such as Section 106 agreements and affordable housing quotas.

“Homes and Communities Agency funding might be required to convince a developer to progress some of the more difficult sites.”

Bristol City Council has just announced similar development initiatives in urban locations including Hengrove, Filwood, Southmead, Kingsweston, Lockleaze, Hartcliffe and Whitchurch.