I've been plot hunting for around two years now, including a few months earlier this year when I (mistakenly) thought I'd found a pretty good plot.

What I've learned is that there is really no "average" price by region, but that plot prices vary enormously on specific location within a region. Its true that some areas are significantly cheaper than others, but that's just a reflection of house prices in the area. The house price indexes available on most home search sites will give a good feel for likely price variation by region.

One snag at the moment seems to be that there are a number of optimistic sellers around, who have yet to realise the impact of the house price fall/slowdown on plot prices. Build costs have risen in recent years, house prices have generally fallen in most areas, yet plot prices seem not to reflect this. One consequence is that there should be more plot becoming available for self builders - several vendors and agents I've spoken to have suggested that small builders are steering clear of buying plots and building on spec, because there's little or no profit in it at the moment and a fair risk they'll get lumbered.

There used to be a rough rule of thumb that said that the plot should be around 1/3 of the value of the finished house. This has gone out of the window recently, with the plot making up a half, or even more, of the finished house value.

I have tried a few plot finder services and Plotsearch is amongst the better ones. Having said that, I wouldn't bother subscribing now, as virtually every plot I've found on there has been advertised on a free access service, like Rightmove or one of the several agencies that charge the purchaser, rather than the vendor, the fee (UK Land Agents, for example).

Lately I've been trawling through planning applications in the areas I'm interested in, hoping to be able to find likely prospects before they get PP and subsequently advertised. Its very time consuming though and so far I've not had any luck!

I'm looking in a pretty big area, roughly bounded by the Severn in the West, maybe 30 miles North of the Thames, no further East then the M3 and no further South West than the Devon border. Like you, I can't afford the South East!

I would start looking now, if only to get a good feel for prices and location. I have to say that it is a bit of a disheartening process, a bit of a roller coaster ride. Some weeks I think I've found a great plot, only to drive out to it and find its dire. I'm being particularly finicky though, as I want a rural plot, that's not too big (I'm looking to build a house of around 120 to 130m² internal net floor area) with enough space for a decent sized workshop and boat storage area. My budget for a plot is up to about £200,000, although I'd rather pay less. I'm fortunate in that I don't need to worry about financing, having taken early retirement with a nice pay off.

The big problem seems to be finding a plot; despite the plethora of sites advertising plots I'm still finding plots that have been sitting with agents for months, yet haven't appeared on any of the plot finder services. Trawling around dozens of agents isn't much fun, as my experience so far is that few agents are that bothered about selling plots. I presume they feel that the profit on the sale of a plot isn't worth the hassle. One local agent even actively put me off looking at a plot, on the basis that it was in a challenging location. Goodness only knows what his client would think if he found out.

One very worthwhile thing to do is get familiar with doing planning searches. Each planning authority has a different way of organising its website, it seems, but all allow planning applications searches. You can usually gain a lot of useful information by searching them, although it is incredibly time consuming (I've been doing it for a year or more and still spend around 20 hours a week just searching the planning sites in my area of interest - I started off spending around 50 hours a week doing it!). If you can locate the planning documents for any plot that you find for sale you can usually dig underneath all the sales bullshit and find out exactly what the plot is like and what conditions the planners have imposed.

If you have the time, start getting used to working the system. It will be a long, hard slog, but with luck you should be able to find what you're after (we can but live in hope........).

JS - I'm hoping to build something about the same size as you're considering - but my total budget is not likely to be much more than £220,000. More particularly, I really like the idea of the Hockerton Housing Project, where they had a number of people who helped build and then moved into the homes - building a small community, as well as a house.

One thing I don't want to do is find the perfect plot for the right price and build a home there, only to find I'm marooned in some remote location with distinctly non-likeminded neighbours.

CWatters - I have bought "How to find and buy a Building Plot" - should be arriving tomorrow or Tuesday. I already have their "How To Get Planning Permission" book, which I admit, I haven't opened yet.

pbd.

For recent and current ASKING prices you could try Rightmove.co.uk . Select area - which you can draw on the map or type in anything from a county to a street. Under property type select "land" and check the box that says "include under offer, sold STC..." . You might even find a plot!

I don't know how well selling prices correlate to asking prices. Ours cost about £80k and was originally on at offers over £120k, I think, though it was doubtless a tricky plot which scared off all but the most naive and eager which helped reduce the price.

Auctioneers usually publish the prices the obtained for recent land and property sales.

A different approach is to take a look at diggersanddreamers.org.uk where I think you could explain your communal ideas and perhaps meet some like-minded individuals. Always an interesting site, I think.

I have no connection with Righmove or any auctioneers, and currently my digging and dreaming is independent of that website.

Keep us posted!

RobinB

I've heard that PlotSearch may become free in the near future - I'd certainly hold off on subscribing to see what happens over the next few months.

We effectively had to bungalow gobble (although it's not a bungalow, and we've been living in it for 10 years...) and will be replacing it with a much nicer (in just about every respect) and efficient building.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: MarkBennett</cite>I've heard that PlotSearch may become free in the near future - I'd certainly hold off on subscribing to see what happens over the next few months.</blockquote>

I suspected as much. They have been chasing me to renew my subscription, but I've decided to hold off because I've yet to find a plot on Plotsearch that hasn't been advertised elsewhere. There seem to be an increasing number of plots coming up on Rightmove and the "draw a search" feature that site has makes life easier. My guess is that we are heading for a time when prospective buyers may not have to pay to try and find plots before too long.

I heard that my local authority will not let you demolish if they consider the property to be in a sound condition. I am not sure what "sound" means though unless you live close to Liverpool!

Have read other threads on here before on this subject and if you demolish and re-build you are able to claim all VAT back on building costs as per new build (and you dont have the cost of providing services to site). This is my plan for the future.

CWatters - I've been reading "How to find and buy a Building Plot" this week. Lots of good, solid advice in there. Cheers.