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In a low-stock market, agents selling development sites must sell the vision and build strong developer relationships to secure their pipelines, ensure sales, and stay competitive.
Usually, real estate sales focus on finished properties, but agents marketing development sites have to sell the vision and guide clients as the project takes shape, requiring creativity and a strong relationship with developers.
With almost 20 years of experience, Colliers Director | Residential, Daniel McMahon, has sold a wide range of properties across multiple networks before taking on development site sales two years ago.
While the whole industry presents difficulties, McMahon said the switch to development sales’ biggest challenges were attracting buyers and ensuring a project’s feasibility.
“We are finding that there are a lot of options for buyers in development sites, so trying to engage them on your product is a bit more of a challenge than it used to be,” McMahon said.
“When buyers are buying these development sites, there’s just not enough room for movement and feasibility to ensure that the land value can stack up so they can actually complete the development.”
McMahon said that to set themselves apart from the competition, agents should focus on building an in-depth understanding of the development to help developers adjust their plans.
“That knowledge gives buyers the confidence in understanding the end product revenues, which may give them the opportunity to tweak their feasibilities where they need to.”
Building relationships with developers
McMahon said the core principles of sales remained the same when selling development sites or residential properties, with the developer acting as the buyer.
“Understanding the locations they are interested in buying in and the conditions they’ll purchase a development site under will create the impression that you are an advisor for them.”
“I’ve always had the idea that you want to treat clients like you have a desk in their office, and that gives them the confidence that you are there working for them and have their best interests in mind.”
He said that once agents assume the “advisor” role, they can guide vendors on the best way to bring the project to market, outline the campaign, and manage expectations throughout.
McMahon said that to succeed in development sales, he often drew on his experience at local agencies, emphasising the importance of building relationships with buyers.
“I put a really strong focus on buyers and developing a buyer database.”
“Every agent that I have come through my business and worked on my projects, I give them the advice to ‘act like a buyer’s agent’.”
McMahon said agents must understand their buyer demographic and needs, allowing them to target a prepared shortlist immediately when a listing arrives.
Serving both sides of the transaction
McMahon said the benefit of having worked in project marketing and development, as well as site sales, is that he approaches each development as a “full-circle service”.
During conversations with developers about a site sale, he said it was important to understand the next steps they would need to take once a transaction is complete.
“When I am going through that process with a potential buyer, I have always got in mind how they are going to get the site to market, the sales velocity and the revenues they are going to need through that process.”
“You need to know what transactions have occurred, are occurring and what rates they are achieving.”
“That way, you can talk to your buyers and your vendors and give them educated advice on what they should do when they are acquiring a site, or to make sure they are getting the most out of what their campaign can achieve,” McMahon concluded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mathew Williams
Born in the rural town of Griffith NSW, Mathew Williams is a graduate journalist who has always had a passion for storytelling. Having graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Sports Media in 2023, Mathew recently made the move to Sydney from Canberra to pursue a career in journalism and has joined the Momentum Media team, writing for their real estate brands. Outside of journalism, Mathew is an avid fan of all things sports and regularly attends sporting events across Sydney. Get in touch at
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