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Residual land value — guide

Residual land value is the most useful number on a site screen. The formula, the intuition and how to use it well.

5 min readUpdated May 2026

What RLV is

RLV is the maximum amount you can pay for the site and still hit your target profit on cost. It's the answer to "what is this site worth to me as a developer?"

Formula

RLV = Net realisation − (TDC excluding land) − Target profit. Where target profit is calculated as (TDC excl. land + RLV) × target profit on cost — solve iteratively or use Feaso's RLV calculator.

Intuition

Run RLV at multiple hurdles (18%, 20%, 22%) and look at the range, not a single number. A 2-percentage-point change in target profit on cost can move RLV by 10–20%.

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