Enhancing Land
Enhancing
Land.
Land Value
Growth.
Raw land upon which future communities can be created is typically rural in its current consented use, but with the potential to be more than that.
Pre-Development Phase
Pre-Development Land is typically rural, but close to urban centres, transport and other service infrastructure making it ripe for urbanisation. This phase involves rezoning and consenting to make further development viable.
Land Development Phase
The land development phase involves the construction of the subdivision on which future homes will be built. These roads, landscaping, services and amenities allow the next phase of building to occur.
House Building Phase
This phase involves the design and construction of houses by developers or spec home builders who have purchased the sections from the land developer. These homes are sold as turn-key or house-and-land packages to the eventual owners.
Developed Community
This phase is where most people enter the real estate market, buying an existing property from its current owner. Each owner can see the property value increase by renovating or simply waiting for the market to move upwards.
How the land
is chosen.
Our team uses a clearly defined research methodology to find land acquisition opportunities. We start by analysing macroeconomic trends, population changes and local authority policies that will drive the demand for land in future. We then identify all areas of bare land that lie in the path of progress – for example, the land surrounding the corridors of Auckland’s inexorable expansion, where new residential communities will have to rise. Finally, we assess all the available land in these areas.
Our team and our consultants use their knowledge of planning regulations, engineering, ecology, soil science and more to identify which properties have the highest potential for value increases.
Countryside
to Community.
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Pre-Development Phase
Pre-Development land is the raw land upon which future communities are created. This land typically is rural in its traditional usage, however, its future development potential is subject to various factors including site-specific aspects such as location to nearby urban centres, transport and other service infrastructure, local planning regulations and central government legislative and policy initiatives, and most importantly, timing.
Rural or semi-rural land poses significant barriers to entry due to its sheer size, cost, and the expertise and time required to prepare the land for the next phase in the property life cycle.
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Land Development Phase
The land development phase of urbanisation occurs when land has been granted the relevant base permissions through consent and/or zoning to allow the construction of the subdivision which future homes will be built on. Further resource consenting activity is required to be undertaken by the land developer to allow for the specific design of the proposed subdivision. This includes building all roading, utilities (including power, telecommunications, and wastewater), and all other construction and legal instruments which are required to deliver serviced lots to home builders.
The land developer acquires the raw land at its development-ready market price and expends significant funds to cover the development costs. These projects are typically financed by banks or other financial institutions, and secured via mortgages over the land. The sections being developed are usually pre-sold to housebuilders.
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Home Building Phase
Land developers sell the lots – which are ready for individual homes to be constructed – to housebuilders. The price the builders acquire the land for reflects the costs and risks associated with the land development phase, and typically only forms a smaller proportion of the combined value of the completed houses.
The housebuilders sell the completed homes to occupiers or investors.
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Developed Community
The developed community is what most of us think of when we picture real estate – several homes all sitting on a subdivided parcel of land. This is where most real estate investors (or occupiers) enter the land market – but it is certainly not the phase that has the only potential for growth in the value of the land.
Fortland’s focus is on unlocking land value at the Pre-Development Phase, leaving it to other market participants to assume the risk and costs associated with the later development phases.
How pre-development land can be enhanced.
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01
Consenting
We prepare and submit applications to Council for subdivision consents to allow the base land to be divided into progressively smaller parcels. -
02
Planning
We master-plan and structure-plan the shape of the proposed community which our land occupies, considering wider transport infrastructure and amenities beyond the land’s boundaries. -
03
Engagement
We actively engage with external stakeholders on community, cultural and environmental matters. It is through these groups that we can gain local support for the transformation of the land. -
04
Plan Change
Robust and strategic master-planning at scale will strengthen our applications to consent and rezone the land. This is further supported by the everincreasing need for urban land in our cities today.