Agricultural land unaffected by the credit crunch

The recent decline in the property market has caused reverberations throughout the country. We are constantly reminded by the media how house prices are falling and construction of new homes have temporarily almost ceased. However, one section of the market still seems resilient. Small plots of farm land for sale are still in demand and fetching high prices.

BCM have recently had great success in selling land plots of less than five acres. At auction a horse paddock in Warnford of 3.96 acres sold for in excess of £70,000. More recently BCM dealt with the sale of a piece of grazing land, also in the Meon Valley, of less than two acres which sold for £50,000. Land adjacent to residential areas will often dictate high prices, but even small fields outside a village are now in high demand.

Tow Tyrwhitt-Drake of BCM in Sutton Scotney comments, " We are still seeing people that are simply purchasing small fields with good access, whether close to towns or villages but also even if they are out in a more isolated rural area. Whether this is because they want to grow their own fruit and vegetables, or put a few pigs or sheep out to graze or whether it is just because they want a place for their horses doesn't seem to matter. Some are even looking at a purchase as a pension rather than paying into a scheme which loses money. There are plenty of people out there who are happy to pay upwards of £10,000 per acre and then be also willing to pay for fencing and tidying up on top of that! This is definitely one area of the market place that is by passing the credit crunch!"