Michael Jones in West Sussex has announced plans to expand its land and new homes division, building on recent sales success.

The company says it wants to extend its geographical footprint into untapped in-demand locations, after posting a year-on-year increase in turnover of more than 60%.

The estate agency achieved £112m of new home sales in the past 12 months, thanks to a spike in demand for new homes following the Covid pandemic, especially family dwellings in more rural areas.

Amid rising energy bills, the new homes trend is also buoyed by a growing appetite among Sussex house buyers for modern properties that were cheaper to run, according to Michael Jones, which is extending its new homes offering across the whole network of 10 offices in East and West Sussex linking in with the residential sales team at each branch.

These include Worthing, Lancing, Findon, Goring, Ferring, Rustington, Hove, Kemptown, Preston Park and Brighton Marina.

Max Harbron, the agency’s associate director of new homes, commented: “With over 30 years of experience, working with major and smaller independent developers, we have become the market-leading local estate agent. Our development consultancy work varies from advising clients on the delivery of large-scale developments, through valuations of housebuilder portfolios for acquisition and disposals

“We now have a strong launch pad for taking our services to housebuilders in new territories.”

“Developers can draw upon our sales and marketing expertise in this sector, as well as take advantage of an aligned and connected branch network, which is set to expand further in 2022 and beyond.”