More than one third of land held by the Homes and Communities Agency is in the Midlands – meaning it is sitting on almost 9,000 housing plots.
The agency has 1,500 acres of public sector land across the country, of which 596 acres are in the Midlands.
Adrian Willet, a senior director in CBRE’s national land and development team, said the sites would go a long way to solving a housing crisis.
The data was unveiled on CBRE’s Regional Land Report and Mr Willet said there was major pressure on the agency with 80,000 homes needed in Birmingham by 2031.
He said: “Typically, 15 houses are built to every acre, which means that the HCA in the Midlands is sitting on around 8,940 housing plots.”
In all, the HCA is sitting on more than 130 sites designated for residential or mixed-use development.
Of that, 27 sites are in this region including the high-profile Icknield Port Loop, which will be promoted to investors at property conference MIPIM next month. Mr Willet accepted that, in many cases, bringing forward sites for sale is not always straight forward.
“Sites may be contaminated and require remediation, or have access issues, for example. This slows things down, before you can even start looking for a buyer,” he added. “What’s more, it’s not a given that these sites are in the right location. Some sites simply won’t appeal to housebuilders.”
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CBRE’s Regional Land Report shows the number of local authorities delivering housing has increased, with some setting up housing companies in order to do so. However, the level of building is still relatively low.
Established in 2009, Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust (BMHT) is now the largest provider of affordable housing across the city, with 1,400 new homes delivered or under construction.
The council is also attempting to bring forward, with its partner the Canal & River Trust, the 43-acre Icknield Port Loop site near Edgbaston Reservoir.
The scheme, which will include 1,150 new homes alongside other uses, will be marketed at MIPIM with private sector partners sought to drive it forward.
Experts say it is inevitable that Birmingham City Council will need to use green belt to plug the gap.
Mr Willet said during 2014 the volume housebuilders stockpiled land but according to Mr Willet they are likely to be more selective and will probably be less acquisitive in 2015.
He said: “There was a lot of competition for sites in 2014, with the volume housebuilders and equity backed private developers winning the majority. Many of those will take more of a backseat in 2015, as they have sufficient supply for 12 to 18 months, concentrating on churning out product instead.
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“This doesn’t mean the land market will be dormant, as I expect the medium sized developers will move in, along with the partnership players such as Kier, Lovell and Galliford Try, working with registered landlords. The market is also seeing the re-emergence of developers buying unconditionally and taking on the planning risk.”
From April 2015, the HCA will be given new powers to masterplan sites within its portfolio, and commission new homes for sale.
A Homes and communities Agency (HCA) spokesperson said it was on track to dispose of enough land in the Midlands to build 3,331 homes this year alone. She added: “Land is being allocated and disposed of to support local authority andlocal enterprise partnerships’ ambitions for local economic and housing growth.
“Land successfully disposed of in Birmingham includes land at Icknield Port Loop, Eastside, Aston Manufacturing Hub, Sandwell College, Edgbaston Cricket Ground and Longbridge.”