Rural retreats boost land prices, says RICS

31 July 1997

Rural retreats boost land prices, says RICS

THE Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reports today that growing demand for desirable country retreats helped sustain the price of farmland in the second quarter.

This was despite a downturn in farm incomes.

It found that cereal, beef and dairy prices were no longer the mainstay of the market. Their prices are all weak and farm incomes have been hit by the strength of the green pound.

The farmland price survey found the average value of sales in the second quarter was down 2%, compared with the previous year, at £7,127 per ha (£2,884 per acre) despite the depressed state of farming. Some farmers still had cash reserves, but caution had become the watchword for farmers considering buying more land, said RICS.

The forthcoming harvest could be a crucial factor in determining whether farmers remain buyers.