Economy & Banks

Land banks are what big property companies sit on, deciding not to build housing we need now, rather build it at some indeterminate point in the future when they think that they can make more money.

Most people understand land banks to be investment schemes were you buy a plot of land that the land bank manager claims will be developed, in the expectation that the value will rise when planning permission is granted. By and large, it never is, and you've paid massively over the odds for a couple of feet in a field somewhere.

The big property developers don't tend to carry excess land on their books, as they have enough cash flow problems without tying up capital in pointless speculation.