London and Quadrant Housing Trust has approved 13 agents to expand its regional sales operations.
The agents will be able to bid on new home sales opportunities in L&Q’s counties region.
To date, the housing association has awarded three contracts to agents: Loughton-based Site Sales, Manchester’s Red Loft and Leaders Romans Group.
The new framework will allow the 13 agents to bid on new homes sales contracts in the counties. Approved agents now include industry heavyweights Savills, JLL and Knight Frank.
The full list is: bpha, Connells, Countrywide, Currell Residential, Full Comms, JLL, Knight Frank, Leaders Romans, LSL Land and New Homes, Move with us, Red Loft, Savills and SiteSales Property.
The agents have been approved and vetted through an OJEU procurement process.
The expansion follows the £505m acquisition of strategic land company Gallagher Estates, the business portfolio of property developer Tony Gallagher, which controls more than 8,500 acres of land.
The acquisition was announced in 2017, providing plots to deliver 42,500 new homes.
Expansion into the counties is being led by the counties team, which formed in October 2017 and has been tasked with moving into new regions, including the Midlands. At the end of last year, the counties team secured its first detailed planning consents on land from the estate at Milton Keynes (225 homes), Tiddington (60) and submitted a planning application for Gallows Hill in Warwick (450).
The housing association manages more than 90,000 homes across London and the South East. However, it has struggled to achieve surpluses from its private sales cross-subsidy model, and has chosen to review its new development opportunities, also opting to back out of an £82m acquisition at Abbey Wood.
On 31 January, L&Q reported a trading update for the period ending 31 December, projecting a £150m shortfall against a surplus target of £340m. The housing association pointed to weakened consumer sentiment in the London sales market and said that while market conditions were tough the housing association would “be more selective about new business opportunities”.
To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette
