Rupert Sweeting, Head of Knight Frank Country, comments: “We have seen a surprisingly busy market over the first three months of 2015 in what is usually a quiet period before the traditional sales season kicks off around late April and early May.”
This encouraging activity comes at a time when annual price growth has been affected by the imminent election, where many vendors and purchasers have been sitting on their hands waiting. Despite this, there is certainly still a lot of appetite for best in class houses, whether at £1m or at £8m.”
Farmland prices hit record high despite impending General Election
The average value of English farmland rose by almost 2% in the first three months of 2015 to reach a record £8,059/acre. During the past 12 months values have increased on average by 10% and over the past 10 years by 192%. This compares with 138% for prime residential property in central London and 40% for the FTSE 100
Clive Hopkins, Head of Knight Frank Farms and Estates, commented: “I remain very positive about the outlook for farmland values. In central England we are continuing to see a rise in the prices paid across all land types and quality. The average land price statistics often hide the significant variation in price, purchaser profile and quality of land.”
As a side effect of the high land values, our valuations department are extremely busy with secured lending in the agricultural sector. In agricultural counties such as Herefordshire, Lincolnshire and East Anglia, we have been seeing a massive investment in intensive agriculture and renewables.”
With the low value commodities, business are taking the chance of competitive lending and high land prices to gear or borrow in order to invest into; poultry and renewables such as Anaerobic Digestion. The income from these ventures is now coming back into the market with business looking to acquire more land to grow business capital and reduced fixed costs.”
