Last edited 10 Nov 2020

HCA Development Appraisal Tool

Homes England (previously the Homes and Communities Agency) publishes a widely-used Development Appraisal Tool (DAT) for small and medium to medium/large projects with a development period of up to 15 years.

It is a spreadsheet-based, site-specific development viability tool intended to inform investment decisions by local authorities and developers, but it can be used as part of a challenge to demands in planning applications, in particular in relation to the effect of affordable housing requirements on project viability.

Version 4, published on 13 November 2014 has 5 phases for all tenures and infrastructure, enabling longer-term schemes to be assessed. It also takes account of changes to planning policy, such as changes to the Community Infrastructure Levy.

The tool can be used to:

Analyse whether planning obligations are viable.
Help local authorities assess the balance between affordable housing and other planning obligations.
Assess the case for financial support under the affordable homes programme.
Assess the potential land value where a local authority is considering a disposal.
Bid for the development of public land under the Homes and Communities Agency’s Development Partner Panel 2 process.

The bid comparator can be used to compare a number of different submissions.

In London, the Greater London Authority (GLA) Affordable Housing Development Control Toolkit is also available, and there are a number of commercially available viability testing tools.