Regional cities are seeing increasing land values as demand for sites grows, according to the latest (May 2017) UK Residential Development Land report by Savills, which stated that land within Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow is in high demand with urban land values growing by 15% or more over the last year.

Build to Rent, regeneration and infrastructure improvements are at the heart of the growth and competition for land is increasing in the Midlands as South East based housebuilders expand into these strengthening markets.

Within London, demand for land is strongest where new build values are less than £1,000 sq ft. New housing supply above £700 sq ft is forecast to meet demand over the next five years but those with values lower than £500 sq ft will continue to be the most undersupplied.

However, land in central London is in lower demand, according to Savills, as fewer prime residential sites are starting and occupier demand for office space still remains uncertain due to Brexit.

City sites are most in demandCity centre sites are seeing increased interest from developers, pushing up average urban land values by 1.8% over the last quarter and with previously overlooked sites now being considered.