With so much change on the horizon it’s almost impossible to guess at what might happen in the future with regard to land values.
With that in mind we ran a short survey earlier this month to gauge farmers and land agents views on what might happen over the coming five to ten years. The results were interesting if only to see the full range of answers being given for almost every question!
On the question of land values over the next five years there was a definitive split between those who thought values would be 10% higher, (primarily farmers) and those who thought values would be 10% lower (primarily land agents).
Looking over the longer ten year period whilst there was no overall consensus approximately a quarter of respondents expected prices to be 25% higher, while a quarter thought they could be 25% lower.
All this does suggest no one really has much of a clue, there did however appear to be more consensus on what would drive land values over the coming decade. With nearly half of respondents suggesting that tax changes would be the biggest influence on land values.
Despite all the change most respondents felt positive about the prospective changes that farmers may face in the coming decade.
That may be because half of all respondents expected rents to fall over the next five years, most by 50% of the current BPS value. So presumably something of the order of £35 acre on lowland ground.
This will obviously have implications for those dependent on rental income from land, as well as for those that rent it.
With trade deals starting to be established and an outline of the future support to the industry now emerging it only leaves changes to tax that we have no certainty over.
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