The average value of English farmland rose to £9,000 per acre in the third quarter of 2012

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These figures, from Smiths Gore’s Research department, can be attributed to the attraction of farmland as an asset class. Farmland, like gold, is still seen as a safe haven in times of economic turbulence and behaves in a counter-cyclical manner.

Sharp rises in commodity prices, poor harvests in the U.S. and Russia, shortage of land and tax advantages means that farmers are having to dig deep to compete with investors for the limited amount of land that is available.

The average value of English farmland rose by 1% to £9,000 per acre between 1 July and 15 August. It has risen by 3% since the start of the year and has cracked the £9,000 barrier for the first time as we predicted.

"The 1% rise in the value of farmland masks a difference in performance between bare and equipped land, which is land with houses and buildings. Bare land values rose by 4% to £6,600 per acre since 1 July whilst equipped values have held constant at £9,600" said Giles Wordsworth, Head of Farm Agency at Smiths Gore.

"Farmer buyers remain the dominant buyers and are competing strongly for bare land. As most bare land sales are for smaller areas than equipped farms, more farmers can raise the capital to bid for them, so there tends to be more competition."

Lowest amount of land for sale ever

"Only 10,900 acres were marketed between 1 July and 15 August, 37% less than in the same period last year.

"Under 63,000 acres have been marketed this year so far and, if the trend continues, less than 80,000 acres will be marketed this year, which is the lowest amount ever", says Dr Jason Beedell, Head of Research at Smiths Gore.

Detailed figures for the first half of 3Q2012

All farms

64 farms and parcels of land over 50 acres were marketed in the first half of 3Q2012, which is lower than the number marketed during the same period of 2011 (82 properties) and 2010 (82).

The amount of land for sale in the first half of 3Q2012 has reduced considerably, with 10,900 acres in 2012, 17,400 acres in 2011 and 17,100 acres in 2010.

Equipped farms (Farms with buildings)

48 equipped farms were marketed in the first half of 3Q2012, compared with 60 in the same period of 2011 and 53 in 2010. 34% less land was marketed in 2012 (9,300 acres) than during 2011 (14,100 acres), and 29% less than in 2010 (13,200 acres).

Bare land

16 parcels of bare land were marketed in the first half of 3Q2012, which is less than the same period in 2011 (22 properties) and in 2010 (29 properties).

The area for sale was 52% lower at 1,600 acres, compared with 3,300 acres in 2011, and 59% lower than in the first half of 3Q2012 (3,900 acres).

The North West region was the most active region in terms of numbers of sales during the first half of 3Q2012, whilst the West Midlands region was most active in terms of acreage marketed during this period.

These figures from Smiths Gore's Research department are based on all sales of publicly marketed farmland in England over 50 acres and exclude sales where the residential value of the sale is greater than 50% of the total.

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