East of England: Farmland prices reach record levels

The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Rural Land Market Survey found that the average price per acre for farmland in the region increased to £7,250 during the second half of 2012. Prices have now continually risen since the beginning of 2009, with surveyors attributing the strength of farmland prices to increased demand and lack of available land.

The majority of demand across the country continues to be driven by commercial farmers, keen to expand production to capitalise on high agricultural commodity prices. However, surveyors note that farmers are discriminating in favour of large, top quality neighbouring plots with as small a residential component as possible. As a result, there is considerable price differentiation in farmland, even locally. Plots that are smaller, of lower soil quality or contain a higher residential component are attracting much less interest and achieving lower average per acre prices.