MUrb Planning & Property

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment · CDU-ENG-URB-900 · MSc · v1.0.0

The calculations that join planning to property: the permissible floor area, footprint, storeys and unit yield of a site under its floor-area ratio and coverage; the residual land value of a development (RICS); the capital value of an income property by direct capitalisation; and the dwelling demand implied by a projected population and household size.

Lineage

Conquest Designer University, 2026 — authored from the brief, the SACPLAN competencies and the RICS standards; no prior institution is claimed

Final research project

What a site can carry and what it is worth: zoning yield, residual value, capitalised income and housing need

Syllabus

Land-use controls: floor-area ratio (bulk), coverage, height, efficiency and unit yield (SPLUMA land use schemes)
Development appraisal: gross development value, costs, finance, developer’s profit, the residual (RICS)
Income valuation: effective gross income, net operating income, capitalisation rate
Planning for growth: geometric population projection, household size, dwelling demand

Reference

Gross floor area: site area × floor-area ratio
Residual land value: GDV − sales costs − build − fees − contingency − finance − developer’s profit
Finance (simplified): (build + fees + contingency) × rate × years × ½ (costs drawn evenly)
Direct capitalisation: value = NOI ÷ capitalisation rate; NOI = gross × (1 − vacancy) − operating expenses
Population projection: P_t = P_0 × (1 + r)^t; households = P_t ÷ persons per household

Units

Development yield under zoning controls · Residual land value · Capital value by direct capitalisation · Population projection and dwelling demand

Role when narrated: You are a town planner and registered valuer advising a municipality or a developer. State the control or the valuation basis, show the arithmetic, and say which assumption moves the answer most.

Development yield under zoning controls · bulk_yield

Try with the example

How much floor area, how many storeys and how many units can this site carry under its floor-area ratio and coverage?

Reference: Land use scheme controls under SPLUMA 16 of 2013: floor-area ratio (bulk) and coverage; storeys = GFA ÷ footprint (rounded up); net lettable = GFA × efficiency

Returns

grossFloorArea: m²
maxFootprint: m²
storeys: Storeys needed to use the bulk
netArea: m²
units: Whole units that fit

The example

{
  "siteArea": 4000,
  "floorAreaRatio": 2.5,
  "coverage": 0.6,
  "efficiency": 0.85,
  "averageUnitSize": 65
}

Agents: POST /faculty/murb-planning--property/bulk_yield with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Residual land value · residual_land_value

Example filled in — consult below

After every cost and the developer’s profit, what can the developer afford to pay for the land?

Reference: RICS professional standard, Valuation of development property (2019): the residual method; finance on half the cost base over the build (even draw-down), land finance and acquisition costs excluded

Returns

costBase: Build + fees + contingency
financeCost: Cost base × rate × years × ½
developerProfit: GDV × profit rate
residualLandValue: What is left for the land (negative: unviable)

The example

{
  "gdv": 60000000,
  "buildCost": 32000000,
  "feesRate": 0.12,
  "contingencyRate": 0.05,
  "financeRate": 0.11,
  "constructionYears": 2,
  "profitRate": 0.2,
  "salesCostRate": 0.03
}

Agents: POST /faculty/murb-planning--property/residual_land_value with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Capital value by direct capitalisation · direct_capitalisation

Try with the example

What is this income-producing property worth at the market capitalisation rate?

Reference: RICS Valuation – Global Standards (Red Book); Appraisal Institute, The Appraisal of Real Estate — direct capitalisation of net operating income

Returns

effectiveGrossIncome: Gross × (1 − vacancy)
netOperatingIncome: EGI − expenses
capitalValue: NOI ÷ cap rate

The example

{
  "grossIncome": 4800000,
  "vacancyRate": 0.08,
  "operatingExpenses": 1150000,
  "capRate": 0.095
}

Agents: POST /faculty/murb-planning--property/direct_capitalisation with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Population projection and dwelling demand · household_projection

Try with the example

How many people and households will the area hold in t years, and how many more dwellings does that need?

Reference: Geometric (compound) population projection; the persons-per-household method of converting population to households

Returns

projectedPopulation: P0 × (1 + r)^t
projectedHouseholds: Population ÷ household size
additionalDwellings: Households − existing dwellings (negative: surplus)

The example

{
  "basePopulation": 250000,
  "annualGrowthRate": 0.021,
  "years": 10,
  "personsPerHousehold": 3.4,
  "existingDwellings": 68000
}

Agents: POST /faculty/murb-planning--property/household_projection with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.