A burst of activity in the farmland market since Christmas has reduced the amount of land on the market but demand for farms, and the prices paid, remains highly variable - according to an agricultural estate agency.

Experts from Strutt & Parker believe that based on transaction in their Farmland Database, the average price of arable farmland sold for £9,800 per acre in the first quarter.

However, those figures may be skewed by a few exceptional sales which achieved £15,000 per acre, raising the average from £8,400 per acre.

They also noticed a significant drop in land marketed in the first quarter, possibly due to some vendors delaying marketing to avoid the carry over from 2016 and due to more land than usual being marketed at the end of 2016.

Michael Fiddes, head of estates and farm agency at the firm, said: "The year 2017 started unusually. There was a significant carry over of land on the market, over 40 per cent of the farms launched in 2016 were still available at the end of the year, which is a far higher proportion than we have seen before.

“However, there has been a flurry of activity since Christmas, so a considerable amount of this has now gone under offer.

"A quarter of the land launched in Q1 of 2017 also looks to have found a buyer.

“This is encouraging and suggests that buyers remain confident about land as a long-term investment, although it is now taking longer to get sales to the point of completion. "Buyers are being more cautious than they were when there was greater competition in the marketplace.

“Our analysis also shows that over half of the livestock and residential farms put on the market last year are still available or have been withdrawn, which is a higher proportion than for other types of farms.

“However, prices remain highly variable.

“A better measure, that shows the variability that an average can hide, is that almost 40 per cent of arable sales were for £6-8,000 per acre, with most of the rest selling for over £10,000 per acre.

“This highlights how polarised the market has become with strong prices still being achieved where there is both a committed buyer and a vendor with a farm that is attractive to the market.

“This is likely to support prices, although undoubtedly a wide range in values will continue to be achieved dependent on location.

“Farms are generally taking longer to sell and most prices have eased back from the highs of 2015 but overall the market remains pretty resilient given the uncertainties associated with Brexit.”