A luxury property group developing some of the most expensive houses ever built in the region is the latest victim of the housing market crash.

LandMarque Custom Homes, based in Droitwich, was part of the empire of well-known developer Steve Dodd, and had a bank of properties across the Midlands.

But the homes, including some high-tech properties in Warwickshire valued at more than £1.5 million, are now in the hands of administrators after the firm ran out of cash.

Administrators at KPMG said they were now looking to get the best possible price for the properties to pay off LandMarque’s creditors.

LandMarque was the brainchild of Mr Dodd, who decided to move into luxury homes in 2008 after selling off a significant property portfolio earlier in the year.

The firm’s flagship development was Arden Glade, in the leafy Warwickshire commuter village of Claverdon, which had just three houses, but was still worth an estimated £5 million when it was unveiled last year.

The five-bedroom, two-storey properties were fitted with the latest technology to appeal to super-rich buyers. The houses were built in an open-plan arc and were

fitted with solar panels and rainwater-capture technology. They were wired to take the latest stereo equipment and in-built games systems.

Andy McGill and Richard Fleming, of KPMG’s restructuring practice, were appointed as joint administrators to LandMarque on January 20 and said the business was taken into administration after cash-flow difficulties.

Mr McGill said: “The principal assets include development sites in Claverdon, Norton in Gloucestershire, and Cheltenham, comprising partly-built residential properties and land.”

They said the business had no employees and there were no customer deposits paid.

Steve Dodd is best known for his Dodd Homes brand. In 2007 he sold off his land bank of 340 building plots to Banner Homes. A year later he sold another significant residential property portfolio of more than 90 houses and apartments, nimbly avoiding the housing market crash.

Dodd Homes and many other property companies are part of the Dodd Holdings group with holdings across the Midlands, including Newhall Place in the Jewellery Quarter, redeveloped from Birmingham’s oldest workhouse.

Mr Dodd could not be reached to comment on the LandMarque administration.