Farmland auctions in England and Wales are still fetching strong prices even as national indices suggest values are softening, land agents told Farmers Weekly, with several blocks selling far above their guide prices in recent weeks.
Janet Flintoft, an associate director at H&H Land & Estates, said 38 acres of mowing or cropping land near Wigton in Cumbria sold for almost £18,600 an acre in a packed room, to a local farmer. "There is really strong local demand there. It's in the heart of a dairy area," she said.
Matthew Lloyd of Rees Richards & Blyth, which covers west and south Wales, said bare land there is making £10,000 to £12,000 an acre, and that neighbours bidding for the same block can add a "marriage value" above the expected price. At Kivells in south-west England, Ben Hancock said September's monthly sale was the strongest of the year: a 22.5-acre block of pasture at Bradworthy in Devon, guided at £225,000, fetched £315,000 (£13,981 an acre), and 36 acres of grass nearby made £422,000 (£11,702 an acre) against a £275,000 guide.
George Whittaker, a partner at Symonds & Sampson, said the firm was set for a record year and its last auction raised just under £5 million. A 37-acre block of Grade 3 land near Shepton Mallet, guided at £300,000, sold for £595,000 (£15,909 an acre), with bids coming from buyers in the Gulf, America and Europe as well as from the room, by telephone and online.
Online-only sales also have a place. Jack Mitchell of Carter Jonas in Taunton sold the 75-acre Lawrence Farm near Wincanton for Somerset Council after vandalism to the farmhouse made a private sale with a standard mortgage unlikely. Guided at £1.34 million, it drew 75 bids over a week and sold for £1.619 million; the clock resets for five minutes after any late bid.
Agents said the attraction for both sides is finality: 10% of the price is paid when the hammer falls and the balance usually within 28 days, with no renegotiation once the lot is sold. They added that auctions suit blocks of land better than large farms, which now need so much due diligence before bidding that they rarely go under the hammer. The report was written for Farmers Weekly's land market pages.
Photo: Christine Johnstone / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Source: Farmers Weekly
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