English farmland values constant at £8,900 per acre but

• bare land rises 4% as
• land for sale remains at historic low

3Q2012 Update (1 July to 30 September 2012)

The average value of English farmland in 3Q2012 remained at £8,900 per acre, the same as during 2Q2012.
Bare land values rose 4% while equipped land values dipped 1%.

The average value of English farmland remained at £8,900 per acre in 3Q2012. It has risen by 3% since the start of the year. Prices broke the £9,000 barrier for the first time, as we predicted, during the third quarter but dropped back slightly to end at £8,900.

"The stability 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 have risen by 4% to £6,600 per acre since 1 July whilst equipped values have dropped back £100 per acre to £9,500", says Giles Wordsworth, Head of Farm Agency at Smiths Gore.

"The market may have reached a natural threshold in terms of land values for equipped land and the levels that buyers are currently prepared to invest in but this will only be tested once more land becomes available."

"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."

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Lowest amount of land for sale ever

"Only 29,300 acres were marketed between 1 July and 30 September, 30% less than in the same period last year.

 "Just over 80,000 acres have been marketed this year so far and, if the trend continues, less than 100,000 acres could be marketed this year, which is the lowest amount ever", says Dr Jason Beedell, Head of Research at Smiths Gore.

Detailed figures for 3Q2012

All farms
161 farms and parcels of land over 50 acres were marketed in 3Q2012, which is lower than the number marketed during the same period of 2011 (185 properties) and 2010 (214).

The amount of land for sale in 3Q2012 was much lower than in previous years, with 29,300 acres in 2012, 41,700 acres in 2011 and 43,000 acres in 2010.

Equipped farms (Farms with buildings)

119 equipped farms were marketed in 3Q2012, compared with 136 in the same period of 2011 and 143 in 2010.

25% less land was marketed (24,700 acres) than during 2011 (33,000 acres), and 27% less than in 2010 (34,100 acres).

Bare land

42 parcels of bare land were marketed in 3Q2012, which is less than the same period in 2011 (49 properties) and in 2010 (71 properties).

The area for sale was 47% lower at 4,600 acres, compared with 8,700 acres in 2011, and 49% lower than in 2010 (8,900 acres).

The South West region, as usual, was the most active region in terms of numbers of sales during 3Q2012, although more acres were for sale in the East of England.

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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