Bucking the trend (From Smallholder)
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Bucking the trend
12:35pm Thursday 22nd January 2009
Despite the current global economic turmoil and plummeting residential property values in this country, analysis by Savills Rural Research of the performance of the farmland market shows the rural sector bucking trends throughout 2008.
David Cross of Savills Farm Agency in Salisbury says: “These figures can give us confidence that the rural market in the South West will continue to flourish in 2009.
“Nonetheless, we need to be aware of the ongoing economic situation and make sure that we are being realistic in our assessment of rural property.”
During 2008 farmland values in the South West continued rising as they had in 2007, with an overall increase of 27.7 per cent. These increases occurred mainly in the first six months and values actually dipped in the second half of the year by -4.5 per cent. All land types have been pegged back, but compared to the phenomenal increases over the past four years this redress is relatively insignificant. Publicly marketed land in the South West increased by 21 per cent in 2008 compared to the previous year, with the most notable increases in Cornwall and Wiltshire. Across England the total amount of publicly marketed land exceeded 140,000 acres for the first time since 2002, 29,360 acres of which was in the South West.
