The highest proportion of properties for sale with planning permission already in place are in the South East of England, as almost three in 10 (28.2%) are ready-made for development.

Properties that already have permission are attractive to investors looking to add extensions or refurbishments, even though they incur an average house price premium of 12% across England.

Searchland, the development site sourcing specialists, analysed the proportion of properties available for sale with planning permission, as well as the price premium for buying such a property.

The East of England is another region with a strong supply, as 20.5% of the 1,787 homes have permission. After that comes the South West, with 20.3% of 1,769 of the properties in the area.

It’s far harder to find a development-ready property outside the South East, East and South West, as the next lowest proportion is the East Midlands, where only 8.4% have permission.

Where development-ready properties are rare – and expensive

If you’re a developer in the North East it’s far harder to find a home with planning approval already, as just 1.8% of properties for sale fall under that category.

The region also incurs the highest premium, as those properties cost 22.0% more than the equivalent property without planning permission granted.

This underlines a general trend, where in regions where there’s a lack of supply of homes with planning permission you have to pay more for the privilege of buying something so rare.

Indeed, in London only 3.2% of homes have permission, so you have to pay 20% more. Similarly in Yorkshire and the Humber only 5.0% of homes have approval, and so the premium is also a significant 20%. This compares to a typical premium of 12% across England.

In some regions where there’s plentiful supply of properties with permission the difference in price is negligible.

In the South West for example, where 20.3% of homes sit in that category, it only costs 2% more to buy a development-ready home.

Co-founder and CEO of Searchland, Mitchell Fasanya, commented:

“Gaining planning permission is a huge headache, as you have to satisfy the local council, deal with potential issues like complaints from neighbours, and play a long waiting game, so it’s no surprise that investors are on the hunt for properties that already have this in place.

“Not all areas of England are the same, as it’s far easier to buy a development-ready property in the South East, East of England and the South West compared to every other region.

“You also don’t have to pay a big premium in those areas compared to regions like the North West, Yorkshire and London, where the supply of homes with planning permissions is so low that you have to fork out a hefty premium of more than 20% to land one of those coveted properties.”