Many real estate sectors in the United Kingdom (UK) are still struggling as the Eurozone continues to makes its way through its debt crisis, but Savills reports that farmland is increasing in value across the country. Scotland’s farmland is performing best of all and prices there have risen 7.3% in the last quarter. There is also more farmland on the market in that area of the UK and transaction volume has increased by a considerable amount. Experts report that Scotland hasn’t seen a similar volume of farmland for sale since 2006. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.
Unlike many other assets UK farm land has continued to rise in value this year with Scottish values outperforming the rest of Great Britain, according to latest figures from Savills.
The number of acres of farm land marketed in Scotland increased this year by 22%, compared to the first three quarters of 2011 with 36,000 acres advertised publically. This is the largest supply of farmland during the first nine months of the year since 2006.
‘While we have seen a notable increase in supply this year, larger commercially viable farms have been scarce. In fact, of the 134 farms available this year, only 23 had more than 400 acres,’ said Luke French of Savills.
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Savills latest farm land analysis reveals that 54% of the farms marketed this year have either sold or are currently under offer. This leaves around 62 farms unsold, almost half of which are located in South West Scotland and are typically between 100 and 300 acres.
‘Whilst east coast arable land of any size will continue to find buyers comparatively easily, farms on the west will need to be of sufficient scale and well equipped if they are to attract similar levels of interest. Or if they are of smaller acreage, they need to include top quality land,’ explained French.
There has been a notable increase in the supply of tracts of bare land on the market, according to Savills. Sellers appear to be capitalising on farmers appetite to expand their properties in sought after areas like the Lothians, Fife, Central Scotland, Perthshire and Angus, resulting in some significant prices being achieved.
Average values in Scotland performed most strongly compared to the rest of Great Britain during the last quarter, increasing by 7.3% to £6,450 per acre for prime arable land.
However prices in excess of 8,000 per acre have been achieved in competitive situations, according to Savills. Across Great Britain prime arable land values rose by 3.2% during the third quarter of the year to average just under £7,200 per acre.
This article was republished with permission from Property Wire.
