Signs of a post-lockdown farmland market bounce-back

Registrations

Savills reported a doubling in buyer registrations during the six-month period compared to last year, with a 50 per cent increase in views of farms on its website.

That increase peaked at 70 per cent in June.

Andrew Pearce, head of Savills’s rural agency, said: “Amenity farmland is expected to be in higher demand now than previously forecast as urban dwellers act on lockdown-induced desires for more green space.”

The desire to escape the country is not the only driver in the farmland market.

The looming changes to support mean some farmers may be looking to sell-up, while others are looking to expand.

There is also an expectation that the ‘new public goods, for public money’ system will deliver opportunities.

“Our agents are also fielding more inquiries from buyers interested in tree planting and implementing other environmental measures, hoping to lock into new income streams which are developing from the management and enhancement of natural capital,” said Matthew Sudlow, estates and farms agency head at Strutt and Parker.

“Our conversations with potential buyers also point to many seeing land as a safe asset class in which to invest in times of uncertainty – a trend we have seen in the past.”