Get your plot hunt moving with this taster of the expert advice available via Build It’s Virtual Self Build Training courses

The market for plots is very competitive, mostly because appetite far outweighs the availability of viable, permissioned land to build on. In fact, the UK’s most comprehensive survey of self builders – recently completed by NaCSBA – shows finding a plot is the number one challenge people face. There are over 58,000 people currently on council’s Right to Build waiting lists (and that’s only scratching the surface of demand); but only around 13,000 actually complete their own home every year.So, how can you improve your chances of securing land?

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Challenges for finding a plot

In England and Wales, over 90% of land is subject to some kind of legal designation that means it can’t be built on. In a typical southeastern county, for example, you might find that only 5-6% of the land has actually been developed in some way. Of that, only a fraction will be for housing – with the rest for industry, schools, infrastructure, retail etc.

Planning policy generally reinforces those boundaries. So, while you might drive down a country lane and see loads of land that looks ripe for development, in fact the majority of it can’t be built on. So most self builders looking for individual plots end up pegged into zones that have had some kind of development already. Add in challenges such as Nimbyism (you can’t build near me!) and planning complications, and opportunities for genuine building land become even more limited. Put that all together, and supply-and-demand means any good plots that do come up in prime locations tend to get sold for high prices – and they’re snapped up fast.