What actually moves the price of land
Area is only the starting point. Road, facing, shape, services and paperwork explain most of the gap between two plots of the same size.
Ask why one plot is dearer than the one next to it and you usually get a list. These are the items that appear most often.
Road
Width, surface and whether the road is public. A plot on a blacktopped twenty foot road is a different proposition from one on an eight foot lane, even where the lane is quieter.
Facing
South and east facing plots carry a premium in the Valley, for light and for custom. The premium is real, but it is smaller than the road makes.
Shape and frontage
A square plot is easier to build on than a long thin one. Frontage matters most for commercial land, where a shop front is the business.
Level and soil
Sloping land costs money before you start: retaining walls, cut and fill, and drainage. Filled land needs care and a deeper foundation. Ask what was there before.
Services
Water at the boundary, a working electricity connection, drainage, and a mobile signal. Each one you have to arrange yourself is a cost and a delay.
Paperwork
A clean certificate with no loan against it, boundaries that match the map, and an owner who is present and able to sign. Buyers pay more for a transfer that will be simple.
Distance from things people use
Schools, a health post, a bus route, a market. Distance from the ring road matters less than the time it takes to reach it at eight in the morning.
None of this is a formula. Two plots on the same lane can differ by a fifth because one has a neighbour's wall in the wrong place. Visit, ask, and compare like with like.
