If you own land in Victoria or interstate that may have residential development potential, at some point you will face a significant question – when is the right time to engage with a developer?
Most landowners assume the answer is “as late as possible” – hold on, wait until the land is worth more, and then negotiate from a position of strength. It is an understandable instinct. But in our experience, it is often the wrong one – and the landowners who wait the longest frequently end up with worse outcomes than those who engaged a developer early.
This article explains why, and what landowners often do not know about the planning process that makes early partnership with the right developer so valuable.
What most landowners do not know about planning
The most common misconception among landowners with development potential is that planning is something that happens to their land – a process managed by councils and authorities that will eventually produce an outcome regardless of what the landowner does.
In reality, planning is an active process – and the outcomes are not fixed. During a rezoning, a planning scheme amendment, or a Precinct Structure Plan process, decisions are made about where roads go, where parks are located, where schools and commercial land are positioned, and how residential land is configured. These decisions directly and permanently affect how many lots a site can produce and therefore what it is worth.
Landowners who do not have a development partner – and who do not understand the planning process – typically have no meaningful input into these decisions. They may not even know the decisions are being made until it is too late to influence them. The result is often a significantly lower yield than the site could have supported, a worse lot configuration, or a planning outcome that reduces the site’s development value permanently.
Landowners who have partnered with an experienced developer, on the other hand, have someone in their corner who does this for a living – who understands the planning process, who knows how to engage constructively with councils and authorities, who knows which decisions matter and when to push back, and who has the relationships and credibility to get better outcomes.
The PSP process – a case study in why early matters
In Victoria’s growth areas, many landowners hold land that is subject to a Precinct Structure Plan – a state-level planning process that determines how large areas of land will be developed over time, including the location of roads, parks, schools, commercial areas, and residential land.
A PSP process can take years. During that time, decisions are being made that will shape the development potential of every landowner’s site within the precinct. Where a drainage reserve is located, whether a road runs through the middle of a property, how open space obligations are allocated – all of these factors affect yield and value, often significantly.
Landowners who are not represented by experienced development professionals during a PSP process are essentially relying on the planning authority to look after their interests. That is not the planning authority’s job. Their job is to produce the best overall planning outcome for the precinct – which is not always the same thing as producing the best outcome for any individual landowner.
Developers who are experienced in PSP processes know how to engage at the right time, make the right representations, and advocate for outcomes that maximise the development potential of the sites they are involved with. That advocacy – on your behalf, and at no cost to you in a joint venture or development agreement – can make an enormous difference to the final value of your land.
The cost of working with the wrong consultants
Some landowners who choose not to partner with a developer early decide to pursue planning themselves – engaging their own town planner, engineer, and other consultants to progress a rezoning or planning permit application.
There is nothing wrong with this approach in principle. But in practice, it carries significant risks that landowners frequently underestimate.
The planning system in Victoria is complex, and the quality of consultants varies enormously. A town planner who does not have deep experience in land development – who is not familiar with how councils approach rezoning applications, who does not know the key decision-makers at the relevant authorities, or who does not understand how to structure an application to maximise yield – can cost a landowner dearly. Not just in fees, but in time lost, in planning outcomes that could have been better, and in opportunities that were missed because the wrong approach was taken at the wrong time.
Experienced developers have spent years building relationships with the best planning and engineering consultants in Victoria. They know who gets results and who does not. They know how to structure applications, when to push, and when to negotiate. That accumulated knowledge and those relationships are not available to most landowners trying to navigate the planning system on their own.
What early partnership actually means
Engaging with a developer early does not mean selling immediately. In many cases, it means entering an arrangement – a joint venture, a development agreement, an option or extended settlement contract – that gives the developer the right to manage the development process on the landowner’s behalf, in exchange for the landowner sharing in the development outcome.
In a well-structured arrangement, the landowner does not pay anything upfront. The developer funds and manages the planning process, engages the consultants, deals with the authorities, and drives the project forward. The landowner retains a meaningful share of the outcome – often significantly more than they would have achieved by trying to navigate the process themselves and then selling.
At UrbanVale, that is exactly how we approach every landowner relationship – with transparency about how decisions are made, honesty about outcomes, and a genuine commitment to maximising the value of the site for all parties involved.
The most valuable thing an early conversation gives you
Regardless of whether you ultimately decide to sell, enter a joint venture, or continue holding your land, an early conversation with an experienced developer gives you one thing that is genuinely difficult to put a price on – an accurate understanding of what your land is worth and what is happening with it.
Many landowners have held land for years or decades without fully understanding its development potential, what planning processes are underway that may affect it, or what a developer would actually pay for it or offer in a partnership arrangement. That uncertainty is not a neutral position – it is a position in which decisions are being made by default rather than by choice.
An early, confidential conversation with UrbanVale costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It gives you real information – about your land, your options, and what the planning context looks like for your specific site – so that whatever you decide, you are deciding with your eyes open.
Discuss your land with UrbanVale – urbanvale.com.au