Demand for luxury housing looks to be holding up in most parts of the UK, according to new construction industry research from Glenigan.
A survey of planning applications found that planning permission was granted for 2,038 luxury houses in the United Kingdom in the 12 months to March 2022.
Although that figure was slightly down on a national basis, the number of new luxury houses granted planning permission rose in seven of the United Kingdom’s dozen economic regions.
The South East is the most popular part of the UK for luxury housing and a third of the approved new homes in the most recent year are located here.
Heywood Real Estate is developing a number of luxury housing projects around Buckinghamshire, Surrey and London. These projects including a house with a cinema, sauna and music room at Knotty Green in Beaconsfield (Project ID: 22117200). Detailed plans were submitted in March.
After the South East, the next largest region for the development of luxury homes is the East of England, where the number of approved new units rose 4% in the year to Q1 2022.
Luxury house projects being developed in this region include the 11,000 sq ft Wickham Manor at Witham in Essex. Built over three floors, the property will include an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, games room and cinema room and is being developed by Hopkins Walter Developments (Project ID: 22008997).
The region experiencing the biggest percentage fall in planning permissions was Wales. Council tax on second homes in Wales is being raised by 300% from next year, which may have deterred development of some luxury second homes in Wales.
The cost of building a luxury house in London or Hertfordshire will cost between £1,750 and £4,000 per square metre according to Marriott Construction, which is based in the capital and works on these types of projects.
The majority of luxury housing projects identified by Glenigan’s construction research will deliver just one home, with applications often made by individuals or families.
Some applications are for more than one house and the South East is again the region where the largest number of luxury housing projects are planned.
Octagon Developments works both on individual luxury housing and schemes of more than one unit. The group built the eight-bedroom Titlarks House at Sunningdale in Berkshire with Kebbell Homes. The 17,000 sq ft house includes seven reception rooms and detached security premises (Project ID: 21249564).
Octagon is also looking to demolish an existing home and build a luxury house as a replacement at Badgers Hill in Virginia Water (Project ID: 22096636), and also to build two luxury homes at Hancocks Mount, Ascot (Project ID: 20420151).
With a strong pipeline of approvals, mainly from wealthy individuals who will be looking for contractors and developers to build out their luxury houses, the sector looks set to provide a steady stream of construction work in the future.
