Harworth announces residential sales at key Yorkshire developments

At Waverley in Rotherham, Avant has acquired 13 acres of land where it intends to build 144 new family homes - its third land purchase at Harworth’s flagship development. The transaction takes the total number of residential plots sold at Waverley to over 1,700 since 2012. Harworth said this demonstrates the significant contribution that Harworth is making to Sheffield City Region’s housing market.

At Flass Lane in Castleford, Avant has acquired the final phase of housing land totalling 10 acres where it intends to build 140 new two to four bedroom homes.

This deal means that between 2017 and 2020 Harworth has sold all available residential development land at Flass Lane, with a total of 550 homes to be delivered on the site by 2024.

Peter Henry, Harworth’s director of Yorkshire & Central, said: “Waverley and Flass Lane are excellent examples of Harworth’s market leading placemaking ability and Avant’s decision to buy further land at both sites demonstrates the appeal of both locations.

"We look forward to working with Avant to mobilise as quickly as possible to accelerate delivering the new homes that Yorkshire needs.”

The combined disposal price is ahead of the equivalent 31 December 2019 book value.

Rotherham-based Harworth said these latest transactions will strengthen its working relationship with Avant, with the regional housebuilder having previously built new homes at four of Harworth’s major developments: Waverley, Prince of Wales in Pontefract, Cadley Park in South Derbyshire and Mapplewell in Barnsley.

Lynda Shillaw, chief executive of Harworth, said: “These transactions are the culmination of an excellent year of land sales for Harworth, generating above book value sales receipts whilst continuing to support the UK’s national housebuilding target of 300,000 units per annum.

“Waverley and Flass Lane fit exactly what homeowners are looking for from the places where they live, namely access to outdoor space, a sense of community and good connectivity.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on the importance of these attributes and they remain absolutely central to how we bring forward our developments to deliver the places where people want to live and work.”

Harworth said trading was strong in its fourth quarter after it completed sales of a similar size to David Wilson Homes at Thoresby Vale in Nottinghamshire and Bellway at South East Coalville in Leicestershire.

It said this strong performance reflects the ongoing resilience of the regional housing market and the appeal of Harworth’s development sites.

A total of 51.73 acres of ready to build on land was sold in the fourth quarter for the delivery of 669 new homes, achieving an ahead of 31 December 2019 book value total consideration of £33m.