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Investing a large sum in any property requires a full appraisal of development potential. The information in this section will assist you to consider the main options.

Brighton’s population has grown by 50,000 in the last 20 years but the availability of new housing has not kept pace. This has resulted in increased home prices due to demand being higher than supply. With a net inflow of 300,000 new people into the UK every year demand on housing stock across Brighton and Sussex is forecast to continue for many years beyond new build capacity.

Brighton’s attraction as a place to live is enhanced by close access to London Gatwick (20 minutes) and Heathrow Airport, 60 minute train services to central London, and Brighton’s reputation as the second most popular (after London) leisure destination in the UK. The two Universities (Brighton and Sussex) have 40,000 students and over 20,000 staff and we have an additional 20,000 foreign language students living locally. Brighton is a lively diverse multi-cultural and tolerant community.

Brighton sits on a narrow land strip between the sea and South Downs National Park. There are limits on future permitted planning which prevents further development outside the boundaries of Windmill Downs. This protects the future privacy of the house. However along the coast road Rottingdean and Brighton has many large home and apartment block developments approved due to the pressure on the local City Council to meet government targets for new housing. All these factors mean that local housing space is at a premium and will continue to appreciate in value, especially those few homes with large plots.

As a result of local pressures on housing many detached homes with large plots have been converted by owners and developers into apartments. Post pandemic many more corporate staff and managers are now working from home in Brighton either permanently or 2-3 days per week. Many detached home owners have successfully obtained planning approval for home office extensions, second houses and new apartment blocks.

We have been frequently approached with offers from developers. Below you will see plans for 16 luxury apartments. We have been offered plans from 9 units up to 22 units up to £10 million total sales value. One of the offers shown below is from a local developer dated 2016 to buy 58 Windmill Downs for £2.65 million with a plan for conversion into 9 luxury apartments. 3 bedroom apartments in the nearby Marina have sold for over £1M

Below you can see examples of current and past prices of homes valued up to three million pounds. Homes shown are local to Brighton, across East and West Sussex, and across UK. Around Brighton apartments are included as a guide to prices for developing the site into luxury flats. Prices below show up to £1 million for 2 and 3 bedroom apartments with sea views along the coast. Detached homes with privacy on the Hove seafront are priced over £3 million. Many Londoners are selling smaller semi-detached homes for this price to move to Brighton.

Buyer options are

1 Buy and stay. This house was built in 1990 and has 6 bedrooms, multiple living facilities with a private secure extension for home office working. This can be converted into an independent living annexe at low cost if desired. There are no permitted future developments outside the 3 boundaries facing the park and sea as that space is part of the South Downs National Park. This protects future privacy and value preventing other developments overlooking Windmill Downs plot. Neighbouring housing plots in Nevill Road and along Marine Drive have been developed into apartments or have a second home added to the same plot. To obtain a realistic valuation for just residential purposes it is not possible to rely on the house price estimates on Zoopla. The Zoopla website uses averages with neighbouring street values and excludes additional renovation costs after purchase. Zoopla also cannot accurately assess higher value features such as direct sea views, direct access to protected parkland, planning restrictions outside the house boundary, fast accessibility to public transport and other important community facilities.   

2 Rebuild into a single futuristic design or two detached homes. Below are many local examples of others doing this. This may cost over £500k. There is easy access from the main road to develop the plot without inconvenience to neighbouring homes. Windmill Downs is not on the South Downs National Park and such plans can be submitted within normal boundary limits. We are selling without specific development planning to enable a new owner to submit their own plans with the confidence that many developments nearby have been successful. Good comparable values of nearby local detached homes on large plots can be seen in Roedean just one mile away from Windmill Downs. The average sold price for a property in Roedean Crescent in the last 12 months is £2.5 million as shown on the website https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/east-sussex/brighton/roedean-crescent/bn2-5rg/

Roedean homes were built over 80 years ago and many original homes now require new roofs and underground sewer pipes at substantial cost. Consequently recent buyers are paying £2.5 million just for the plot to demolish and rebuild to a higher specification. Current overall costs are approximately £3.5 million to do this. We used to live at 18 Roedean Way which the subsequent owner demolished and rebuilt. We had concerns with the rear adjoining house garden adding a second large house overlooking our back garden, reducing our privacy. Some Roedean plots have been combined and developed into apartments.  Additionally a large open grass space in front of Roedean owned by the Council could be developed as a Park and Ride area.  So we moved just  3 minutes away to Rottingdean. We now have easy walking access to village shops and facilities, whilst enjoying uninterrupted direct views over the coast and countryside. We also have improved privacy with a guarantee of no adjoining boundary developments due to South Downs National Park restrictions.     

3 Redevelop into apartments. Below are drawings for 16 apartments totalling over 10,000 square feet living space with an underground car park to avoid street parking problems. Beacon Hill is solid chalk based so underground space is viable, improves parking and adds value. There are social pressures to use local space for more homes and such families create more expenditure to support the local community. We have been given plans by local developers for 9 large luxury apartments with a sale value over £10 million and up to 22 apartments with affordable housing space. We would prefer to let a new buyer decide on their best development options, or buy as a family residence with the option to develop later. 

On the basis of the above and the attachments we seek offers in the region of £3 million. We have no deadline and we are happy to take time to consider offers from outside Sussex and abroad. This is why we are providing a high level of factual detail to ensure any potential buyers can make the best decisions

Interested parties are asked to confirm their identities, address and financial position when enquiring.

Enquirers can verify my status online and at www.consult-smp.com

Thank you for your interest

Clive Bonny