Farmland value in the UK is likely to ride out Brexit uncertainty, according to a new report looking at confidence in the rural sector.
Confidence in commercial farmland remains strong and it will continue to be a secure long term investment through Brexit and beyond, according to the Kent Property Market Report 2018.
It found that while the average value of prime arable land fell by -2.3% to £9,310 per acre in the first nine months of 2018 when compared to 2017, the amount of land coming to market across the same period rose by 22% to 15,000 acres.
The report, produced by Caxtons Chartered Surveyors, Kent County Council and Locate, shows that the south east region, which takes in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey as well as Kent, accounted for 12% of all farmland marketed in England during 2018 to date.
The report states that confidence in the commercial farmland market is still strong if the offering is of good quality.
Heading into 2019 a degree of uncertainty is expected in the market given the political backdrop, however farmland is expected to remain a safe and tax efficient investment, with pressure for development underpinning values and little in the way of price changes expected.
The report concludes: “Farmland has proved a safe and secure investment over the long term and in recent years has outperformed many other assets and will ride out the current pressures of Brexit and beyond.
“The new Agricultural Bill has set out how subisides will be reduced over a seven-year period from 2021, with support being directed to environmental aims and matters of public good.
It adds: “A repeat of the significant farmland price increase recorded in the decade to 2014 is not anticipated, but a return to its long term historical real-term growth of around 1% per annum is more likely.”
