Land supply must increase “significantly” for 1.5 million homes target – Savills

Land supply will need to increase significantly if the new government is to achieve its plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, according to Savills.

In its assessment of residential development land for the second quarter of 2024, the real estate company said that confidence had grown in the land market, with “greater stability” seen in the economy and housing market.

Appetite for land had proved “resilient”; more players had returned to the land market, “including broader interest from the plc housebuilders seeking land opportunities across a range of site sizes”.

But according to Savills’ research, land sales in the first half of 2024 were 21% below the previous three-year average. The last quarter had seen an “uptick” in the number of land bid levels, particularly for “optimum-sized” sites in greenfield locations.

But there remained a “significant variance” in bid levels, Savills said. In some instances, the highest bids were more than double the bids at the lower end of the range.

It added that land deals were “taking much longer to progress” compared to 2021/22 due to multiple factors, including board approvals for bids taking longer and “a lack of urgency amongst …