Placepoint

Site analysis

A site analysis is a structured survey of a property's planning, physical, legal and financial characteristics. Its purpose is to give the developer, investor or adviser a shared factual basis before decisions are made. The analysis collects information that otherwise sits spread across the matrikkel, Grunnboken, zoning plans, municipal master plans, Kartverket's map data, the municipality's case records and open registers, and presents it in one document or dashboard built for decisions. A good site analysis works as the gateway to a feasibility study, a volume study or a planning initiative.

The content of a site analysis varies with its purpose, but the typical framework covers seven areas. Identification: matrikkelnummer (the cadastral identifier), address, area, registered owner, purchase date and last sale price. Planning status: the applicable zoning plan or municipal master plan, permitted use, allowed plot ratio, building heights and any special provisions, plus any planning proposal under way that could change the framework. Encumbrances and rights: registered charges, easements, ground lease arrangements and other rights holders. Physical characteristics: terrain, slope, ground conditions, flood zone, quick clay risk, existing buildings and infrastructure. Surroundings: neighbouring uses, public transport access, walking distance to social infrastructure (school, kindergarten, grocery shop, public transport stop), noise and air quality. Market: price trends, rent levels, sales volume in the local area and indicators of demand development. Risk and deviations: known planning barriers, environmental problems (contaminated ground, cultural heritage sites), legal disputes, and defects in the physical or legal delivery.

For owners of a land bank, a standardised site analysis is a portfolio management tool. An updated analysis once a year picks up planning changes (revision of the municipal master plan, new zoning plans in the area, quick clay or flood zone mapping that changes the framework) and market developments that affect the site's market value. A land bank system without updated analyses quickly becomes a collection of assumptions that no longer hold, and a land bank is worth no more than the precision of its analyses.

Many developers build the site analysis as a standardised template with modular content: core data for each site, with deeper detail when needed. That lets project managers compare sites quickly on equal terms, and gives investors a familiar format for assessing several projects. The standardised template also reduces the risk that important risks are missed because they were not included in an ad hoc analysis.

In Placepoint you can bring together property data, zoning plans, building information, demographics, business data, risk maps, traffic data and property prices for every site in the portfolio. It does not replace professional judgement, but it cuts data collection time from days to minutes and gives an updated, data-driven starting point for the site analysis. Report: Market and area analysis gathers much of the same material for a whole drawn area instead of one site at a time: building stock, ownership type, transactions, demographics and travel time.

How it looks in Placepoint

In Placepoint you find this in Feasibility study:

Site analysis in Placepoint

From Placepoint's glossary: Site analysis

More information: Kartverket: Matrikkelen, NVE: Flomsonekart, Plan- og bygningsetaten Oslo, Brønnøysundregistrene: Grunnboken

English: Site analysis / property due diligence.

Common questions we come across

What is the difference between a site analysis and a feasibility study?

The site analysis is descriptive: it documents what exists on and around the site. The feasibility study is project oriented: it takes the site analysis as its input and assesses whether a specific project is achievable and profitable. The site analysis is fact; the feasibility study is conclusion.

How long does a site analysis take?

With modern data tools, typically from a few hours (overview analysis, core data) to a week (full due diligence with a legal review of Grunnboken, environmental mapping and neighbour conditions). A thorough analysis of a complex city centre site with ground lease arrangements and ongoing planning work can take considerably longer.

What does a site analysis cost?

Self-service (data from open registers plus GIS): NOK 5,000 to 30,000 in internal time. Basic analysis prepared by a consultant: NOK 25,000 to 75,000. Full due diligence with legal assessment and a physical site visit: NOK 100,000 to 400,000. The price range reflects that a good site analysis is only as useful as the data sources it rests on.

Which data sources matter most in a site analysis?

The matrikkel for areas, buildings and title; Grunnboken for registered rights and encumbrances; zoning plans and municipal master plans for the planning framework; Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat (NVE) for flooding and quick clay; Miljødirektoratet for contaminated ground and biodiversity; Riksantikvaren for cultural heritage sites; Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB) for demographics and business structure; and local price databases for market data.