Comment

AS we enter the twilight months of 2007 it seems an opportune time to reflect on what was a remarkable first six months of the year within the farmland market.

Recently published RICS Rural Land Market Survey research informs us that the increase in farm land prices in the South West was over 22% over the period. I am sure most land agents marketing land in the region will testify to the buoyant market at that time and the exceptional demand received from purchasers, writes Certainly Stags central farms, estates and land department, as well as the firm's network of farm valuers across the West Country, received strong demand right across the region with some outstanding prices being achieved at auction and tender as well as traditional private treaty sales.

January proved to be a strange month, with large numbers of enquiries from prospective purchasers with many sales agreed in February. From then, the market was exceptionally busy, with no pause for breath within the farm land market until October.

Sales completed early in 2007 included 400 acres of bare agricultural land at Bridford Barton, near Exeter, farmed organically and forming a mix of productive pasture and arable land in additional to some attractive amenity parcels. Divided into 12 lots to take advantage of the land's position encircling the village of Bridford the majority was sold to a farming purchaser and across the board the land price averaged over £3,300 per acre, with some lots approaching £4,500 per acre. This provided a small insight of the year ahead.

A flurry of land lots began coming onto the open market during March, taking advantage of the Stags spring collective auctions. These auctions, held during May, for the first time provided a precise indication of the land market at that time with 30.96 acres near Ottery St Mary in East Devon selling to a faming purchaser for over £4,100 per acre and subsequently 63.79 acres of productive arable farm land at Ash Priors, near Taunton, going under that hammer in four lots and averaging an astonishing £6,114 per acre with some lots realising as high as £8,900 per acre.

These results were not reserved for farm land only with exceptional demand from residential purchasers creating competitive bidding for a number of farms available at that time.

Clapp Mill Farm, Broadclyst, East Devon, was marketed for auction and formed a 72 acre holding with a three bedroom brick constructed house suitable for renovation and a range of traditional farm buildings that offered potential subject to gaining planning consent. Marketed at a guide of £620,000- £670,000 as a whole, Stags conducted over 90 viewings of the farm during the six week marketing period, with bidding in the auction room eventually driving the sale price to a quite unbelievable £990,000. Leat Farm, Rackenford, Mid Devon, provided a further example of the strength of the market for farms during the first six months of the year. Set in a very attractive position with the Little Dart River running through the holding and 64 acres of mixed pasture and woodland creating a stunning setting, over 20 viewings were arranged during the first week of marketing and so it was no surprise that the farm eventually sold well in excess of the £885,000 guide to a purchaser from the south east.

So, what of the second half of the year? When we all sit back and take stock of the year as a whole it will be interesting to see how the second half of the year compared with the first and also how the proposed changes to Capital Gains Tax planned from April 2008 may effect the farm land market.

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login