The feasibility question
Property development feasibility is not a spreadsheet exercise in isolation. It is the process of proving that a specific site can carry a specific product, at a specific purchase price, with enough margin left for the risk. The mistake is to start with a desired profit and force the assumptions to fit. The correct sequence is planning, physical capacity, market evidence, cost, funding, tax and then residual land value.
Planning
Zone, overlays, height, density, minimum site area, frontage, parking, open space, trees and local character.
Yield
The real number of lots, townhouses, apartments or square metres that can fit after circulation and design loss.
Money
End value minus construction, consultants, authority costs, finance, contingency, selling costs, tax and margin.
The order of operations
- Define the product you are testing: subdivision, townhouse, apartment, retail, mixed-use or billboard/OOH.
- Reject impossible sites early using planning controls and physical constraints.
- Estimate yield conservatively from controls and nearby precedent, not from wishful maximums.
- Use market evidence to set end value and sell-down assumptions.
- Calculate residual land value and compare it with the vendor's expectation.
The go/no-go rule
A site deserves the next dollar of diligence only when the planning path, yield and residual land value all survive conservative assumptions. If one fails, the site may still be interesting, but the price or product has to change.
Turn the principle into an address-level test
Use the guide to understand the decision path, then run the actual address through GoSiteHunt before paying for survey, concept plans, planning advice or a full feasibility model.
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