HOUSE builders are increasingly focusing on East Kent as an attractive prospect for new developments owing to the area’s improved transport links and the availability of land.

This is the view of land and property specialists RPC Land and New Homes, which believes that areas east of Ashford, such as Folkestone, Herne Bay and Whitstable and the Thanet towns, are becoming more attractive, especially for developments on brownfield land.

RPC Land Director Marcus Baldwin, based at the company’s Ashford office, said: "Some developers are now looking at areas they would not have considered a decade ago. This is for a number of reasons including the fact that East Kent offers comparatively good value for money compared to Mid and West Kent.

"Improvements to the M20, M2 and Thanet Way have made a huge difference and having the international train station at Ashford has helped focus attention on the region.

"Traditionally Mid and West Kent have been the more popular areas for developers but with land at a premium and being hotly contested, it is a case of supply and demand and developers are having to look elsewhere.

"Developments such as the one at Hawkinge, near Folkestone, have shown what the area has to offer and a large range of national and regional builders are now working in East Kent."

There was a greater variety of housing being built. This coupled with introduction of high-speed rail services from 2009 make the area an attractive location. There was "more choice for family housing".