Land market falls

12 September 1997

Land market falls

THE market for commercial farmland is weakening as falling profitability in most agricultural sectors takes its toll on incomes.

"There is evidence of 10% price falls in some regions during the last six months," says the recently-published Savills Agricultural Research Briefing. "But nationally, average land values rose by 1.1% during the first half of 1997," it adds.

Also, values of well-located residential farms and estates are expected to rise by up to 25% by 2000 due to continued demand from the non-farming sector.

Savills says: "This will support agricultural land prices in the most popular areas and limit any decline in vacant possession farmland values to 15% by 1999". &#42