Farmland prices rise

Published: April 25, 2008

People with first-time buyer mortgages may want to consider buying a property on farmland.

New figures show that this section of the housing market is doing very well despite the global credit crunch.

Knight Frank has revealed that farmland prices increased by 12 per cent in the first three months of 2008 and this will be encouraging for investors.

According to the firm, lifestyle buyers accounted for 29 per cent of the market.

Many people with first-time buyer mortgages are concerned about investing in the property market as prices fall, making farmland an attractive proposition as the market is heading in the right direction.

"The UK farmland market not only continues to shrug off the credit crunch affecting other property classes," commented Andrew Shirley, head of rural land research at Knight Frank.

"There was a small surge in availability earlier this year as some vendors tried to beat the April 5th deadline for potentially costly changes to Capital Gains Tax legislation, but overall I do not expect significantly more land to be marketed in 2008," he added.

Anthony Zahra