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UK Farmland Prices Soar as Demand and Competition Intensifies
By +Liam Bailey Tuesday 27 August 2013 Intensifying competition in the market to buy up arable land has driven up the price of UK farmland to GPB 7,440 per acre in the first six months of this year. This is three times the average GBP 2,400 paid during the same period in 2004. Big commercial farmers are constantly looking to expand production to take advantage of the long-term trends of rising food prices and economies of scale, according to researchers at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), who produced the data. Despite the recent falls in commodity prices food demand is expected to continue rising as populations grow and diets change around the world. On top of that you also have investors’ perception of farmland as a safe-haven investment alongside things like gold. Farmland has outperformed a number of alternative asset classes, which – combined with tax breaks – has enhanced its appeal as an investment, especially given that the latest data shows farmland is now outpacing the growth of gold, as the latter has seen its price weaken recently. “ The growth in farmland prices in recent times has been nothing short of staggering ,” said Sue Steer, spokeswoman for RICS. “In less than 10 years, we’ve seen the cost of an acre of farmland grow to such an extent that investors – not just farmers – are entering the market. “If the relatively tight supply and high demand continues, we could experience the cost per acre going through the GBP 10,000 barrier in the next two to three years.” The most expensive farmland was found in the North West – where supply is tight – at GBP 8,813 an acre, the RICS survey showed, while the cost was lowest in Scotland, at GBP 4,438 an acre. None the less, prices north of the border touched record levels for the Scottish market. Some areas are already past the GBP 10,000 mark, surveyors said. Cheshire-based auctioneers Wright Manley recently sold 13.5 acre block of land near Antrobus near Northwich for well over GBP 12,000 per acre. Speaking of the sale auctioneer Andrew Wallace reported “keen farmer competition for extra land”. In the long-term all signs point to this competition continually intensifying due to the finite supply of arable land versus population growth and consumption trends. There is also the added demand of buying land for renewable energy sources like biofuels. Against this backdrop, food prices will stick above their historical average over the medium term for both crop and livestock products as demand grows and production slows, according to a recent report published by the OECD think tank and the UN’s food agency. Continue reading
Power From Wood, Wood-Derived Fuels Up In June
Taylor Scott International News Taylor Scott International Taylor Scott International, Taylor Scott Continue reading
Buy To Let Best Returns Table By Postcode
27/02/2010 Buy-to-let investors looking for the best returns should look outside trendy hotspots, with many less fashionable areas delivering far better returns, a study shows… A report into the Top 100 towns for buy-to-let yields, compiled by property listing website FindaProperty.com for This is Money, shows that Blackpool is the postcode delivering the best returns in the UK. The Holy Grail for property investors is a combination of low average property prices compared to rental returns and the report shows that locations not typically considered property hotspots make up a sizeable chunk of the top 25 postcodes. Investors in property in Blackpool are looking at an average home asking price of £161,722 and monthly rent of £720, according to FindaProperty.com, delivering a gross yield of 5.34%. This represents a far more accessible investment than the next best postcode, which covers Kingston on Thames, where the average house price is £420,469. While the top 20 is peppered with more fashionable locations, including Kingston, east London, Manchester, Central London and Twickenham, it is the more run of the mill locations that stand out. Blackpool is joined by Kirkcaldy, Romford, Sunderland, Wigan, Blackburn, Bolton, Luton and Cleveland, all of which offer yields above 4%, but a far lower cost of purchasing a property. FindaProperty.com calculated the gross yield by taking a property’s rent over 12 months as a percentage of its purchase price. Noticeably, while all the postcodes delivered far greater yields than the return on the average savings account of around 1.5%, none managed to breach the 6% mark that attracted investors in the early days of the buy-to-let boom. Once mortgage costs, letting fees, maintenance costs and tax are factored in, returns on the buy-to-let investments would be much lower. Nigel Lewis, of FindaProperty.com, said: “This shows that the best places for high gross yield are those with lower housing costs, a changing population and in particular if they have one or more universities.’ ‘London is strong because it’s under population pressure and has multiple universities and therefore even satellite areas such as Twickenham do well. ‘The other places where gross yields tend to be high are where there is a large inbound ethnic population getting on its economic feet and rental demand is high but house prices usually lower than the average.’ TOP 100 BUY-TO-LET POSTCODES Area Postcode Ave price Monthly rent Yield % Source: FindaProperty.com, February 2010 1 BLACKPOOL FY £161,722 £720 5.34 2 KINGSTON UPON THAMES KT £420,469 £1,843 5.26 3 KIRKCALDY KY £198,118 £856 5.19 4 LONDON (East) E £275,844 £1,147 4.99 5 MANCHESTER M £141,435 £575 4.87 6 DURHAM DH £128,730 £521 4.86 7 ROMFORD RM £230,792 £909 4.72 8 UXBRIDGE UB £266,486 £1,029 4.63 9 LONDON (south East) SE £275,267 £1,060 4.62 10 SUNDERLAND SR £131,336 £498 4.55 11 WIGAN WN £123,052 £463 4.52 12 BLACKBURN BB £123,326 £463 4.5 13 LIVERPOOL L £161,325 £598 4.45 14 GLASGOW G £154,084 £563 4.38 15 LONDON (central) WC £726,415 £2,612 4.32 16 BOLTON BL £142,150 £508 4.29 17 LUTON LU £182,388 £650 4.27 18 CARDIFF CF £158,736 £564 4.26 19 TWICKENHAM TW £328,924 £1,162 4.24 20 CLEVELAND TS £155,013 £547 4.23 21 SHEFFIELD S £141,691 £499 4.22 22 WARRINGTON WA £194,709 £682 4.21 23 MEDWAY ME £210,421 £737 4.2 24 DONCASTER DN £150,021 £523 4.18 25 DARTFORD DA £234,077 £810 4.15 26 SOUTHEND ON SEA SS £220,562 £763 4.15 27 GUILDFORD GU £374,124 £1,287 4.13 28 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE NE £185,928 £636 4.1 29 MOTHERWELL ML £155,170 £530 4.1 30 CHESTER CH £196,250 £665 4.07 31 HULL HU £151,975 £510 4.02 32 CROYDON CR £271,135 £908 4.02 33 BIRMINGHAM B £180,558 £604 4.02 34 FALKIRK FK £185,138 £617 4 35 SUTTON SM £279,164 £927 3.98 36 WOLVERHAMPTON WV £153,470 £507 3.96 37 PRESTON PR £173,044 £566 3.93 38 WALSALL WS £162,956 £531 3.91 39 LONDON EC £581,944 £1,886 3.89 40 LEICESTER LE £202,522 £656 3.88 41 NOTTINGHAM NG £171,205 £554 3.88 42 OLDHAM OL £147,390 £471 3.84 43 LONDON SW £763,873 £2,415 3.79 44 WAKEFIELD WF £151,705 £479 3.79 45 ILFORD IG £316,562 £997 3.78 46 HARROW HA £358,059 £1,120 3.75 47 ABERDEEN AB £296,788 £928 3.75 48 DUNDEE DD £236,304 £735 3.73 49 CANTERBURY CT £210,284 £652 3.72 50 MILTON KEYNES MK £243,106 £754 3.72 51 NORTHAMPTON NN £195,595 £603 3.7 52 BRIGHTON BN £270,454 £834 3.7 53 BRISTOL BS £238,133 £732 3.69 54 COVENTRY CV £215,250 £661 3.68 55 BRADFORD BD £159,527 £489 3.68 56 PORTSMOUTH PO £243,599 £744 3.66 57 HALIFAX HX £159,201 £482 3.63 58 CAMBRIDGE CB £299,459 £903 3.62 59 CREWE CW £217,792 £655 3.61 60 CARLISLE CA £175,168 £526 3.61 61 READING RG £329,551 £990 3.61 62 ENFIELD EN £339,492 £1,010 3.57 63 STOKE ON TRENT ST £181,652 £539 3.56 64 STEVENAGE SG £286,730 £851 3.56 65 STOCKPORT SK £195,535 £579 3.55 66 WATFORD WD £362,059 £1,070 3.55 67 LEEDS LS £198,555 £585 3.54 68 DARLINGTON DL £181,717 £535 3.53 69 SWINDON SN £255,832 £743 3.49 70 KILMARNOCK KA £163,562 £475 3.48 71 DERBY DE £179,080 £517 3.46 72 COLCHESTER CO £228,779 £655 3.44 73 BROMLEY BR £349,775 £1,001 3.43 74 PETERBOROUGH PE £205,970 £589 3.43 75 CHELMSFORD CM £305,268 £873 3.43 76 LONDON NW £566,176 £1,616 3.43 77 BATH BA £241,395 £686 3.41 78 SOUTHAMPTON SO £315,063 £895 3.41 79 SALISBURY SP £294,765 £835 3.4 80 TONBRIDGE TN £318,006 £898 3.39 81 OXFORD OX £339,426 £951 3.36 82 NEWPORT NP £189,680 £529 3.34 83 NORWICH NR £237,902 £661 3.33 84 GLOUCESTER GL £272,069 £753 3.32 85 HUDDERSFIELD HD £175,771 £486 3.32 86 SLOUGH £ £453,701 £1,254 3.32 87 INVERNESS IV £233,018 £643 3.31 88 LANCASTER LA £238,246 £655 3.3 89 LINCOLN LN £191,717 £524 3.28 90 REDHILL RH £354,207 £962 3.26 91 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD HP £372,837 £1,009 3.25 92 BOURNEMOUTH BH £304,095 £817 3.22 93 DORCHESTER DT £268,855 £721 3.22 94 LLANDUDNO LL £232,060 £622 3.21 95 PERTH PH £302,464 £792 3.14 96 LONDON N £493,492 £1,276 3.1 97 DUDLEY DY £228,510 £587 3.08 98 LONDON W £996,894 £2,531 3.05 99 SWANSEA SA £214,500 £533 2.98 100 EXETER EX £278,522 £691 2.98 Read more: http://www.thisismon…6#ixzz0gmD8nSLj Continue reading
