Price of UK Farmland reaches record high
The second half of 2010 saw UK Farmland prices reach an all time high as the demand for commercial farmland kept on growing against a continued shortage of available land, according to the latest figures from the recent RICS Rural Land Market Survey.
It seems that commercial farmers are still more than keen to expand production in order to capitalise from elevated commodity prices. Combine this with the falling land availability and it’s no secret to see why prices have risen to all time highs at the end of 2010. There are two ways of measuring prices in UK Farmland – transaction based (including residential land) prices stood at just under £17,000 per hectare. Opinion based prices (covering just bare land) indicated prices at just under £14,500 per hectare. This was a rise of around 6% for both prices.
Farmland in the Midlands experienced the largest rise of 17% whereas the North-west prices rose by 12% to become the most expensive farmland in the UK at £17,300 per hectare. Interestingly, the only area of the UK to see its prices fall was Scotland where average prices dropped by 8% to remain the cheapest in the UK at around £9,100 per hectare.
Demand does continue to strengthen for both types of farmland mentioned above, but surveyors have reported that this demand is much more apparent in commercial farmland whereas residential is growing much more slowly. This marks the fourth year running where the pace of demand for commercial outperformed residential. As residential farmland reflects the national housing picture, it is not surprising that this figure remains more subdued.
Surveyors also note that actual land availability has now been falling in both the commercial and residential sectors for the last two-and-a-half years. With this lack of supply to the market, industry experts are expecting the recent trend in farmland prices to continue over the next twelve months enabling more strong growth in the commercial farmland market but a flatter trend in the residential sector.
If you would like to have a chat with us about the UK farmland options we have available for your property portfolio, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
USA
UK
Istanbul
Montenegro
Solar Investments
