Tag Archives: outlook
Ben Kingsley on MPTV – Importance of Property Research in Property Investment
http://empowerwealth.com.au/media/ This time in MPTV, Ben will be discussing with Des Dowling, MPTV Host on the importance of Property Research in Property I… Continue reading
Pace of Farmland Price Appreciation Eases Across Mid-South and Southeast; Outlook Grows Cautious
The pace of farmland price appreciation across the Mid-South and Southeast U.S. moderated in the first quarter, according to the latest Farmland Market Survey released today by Farmland Investor Letter. Madison, WI, May 16, 2013 –( PR.com )– The pace of farmland price appreciation across the Mid-South and Southeast U.S. moderated in the first quarter, according to the latest Farmland Market Survey released today by Farmland Investor Letter. Non-irrigated cropland values rose at a 7% year-over-year pace, down from 9.3% in last’s year’s fourth quarter. Irrigated tracts increased at an 8.2% annual pace, versus 9.6% in the previous quarter. Pasture values were up 2.5% from a year ago, compared to a 3.2% 12-month rate at last year’s close. The survey, conducted from March 15, 2013 through April 29, 2013 was based on the responses of 107 appraisers, property managers, lenders, real estate brokers and landowners located in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Farmers and investors expect cropland values to remain stable through the second quarter, despite flattening crop commodity prices. Historic low interest rates continue to support land values. However, continued robust gains in the stock market may compete for the attention of investors. Farmland Values Survey participants estimated that non-irrigated cropland across the region was worth an average $3,111 per acre in the first quarter of 2013. Irrigated cropland values averaged $4,169 per acre. Pasture values averaged $2,264 per acre. On an individual state basis, non-irrigated cropland values ranged from $3,993 per acre in Florida to $2,571 per acre in Georgia. Irrigated cropland values ranged from $5,013 per acre in Florida to $3,273 per acre in Alabama. Pasture values ranged from $3,125 per acre in Florida to $1,739 per acre in Arkansas. Cash Rents Cash rent increases continue to lag land price inflation across the region. Rents on non-irrigated cropland averaged $112 per acre, ranging from an average $69 per acre in Alabama to $125 per acre in Mississippi. Irrigated cash rents averaged $200 per acre across the region, and ranged from an average $121 per acre in Alabama to $318 per acre in Florida. Pasture rents averaged $34 per acre, ranging from $25 per acre in Mississippi to $38 per acre in Georgia. Rent income yields, which are calculated by dividing gross cash rent by land value, offers insights into the relative pricing of land tracts regionally. Across the Mid-South/Southeast, non-irrigated tracts are estimated to be generating a 3.6% rent income yield; irrigated tracts 4.8% and pasture 1.5%. Market Outlook With farm crop prices moderating, survey panelists turned cautious in their outlook for both cropland and pasture values, forecasting that prices would remain stable though the second quarter. Respondents are most optimistic for irrigated cropland tracts, where 48% expect prices to increase, while 52% look for no change. Investor demand for irrigated tracts appears strongest in Louisiana and Arkansas where 78% and 74%, respectively, of respondents look for irrigated land values to continue rising. Interest in non-irrigated tracts is also strong in Louisiana, where 63% of respondents forecast higher prices. About Farmland Investor Letter: Farmland Investor Letter is published by Mercator Research LLC, an independent research and analytics firm with no ties to brokers, commercial farm managers or lenders. To learn more about our monthly newsletter and enterprise research, visit us on the web at www.farmlandinvestorcenter.com. Contact Information Mercator Research LLC Michael Fritz 312-725-0559 Contact www.farmlandinvestorcenter.com Continue reading
Cap and Trade Collapses
EVIEW & OUTLOOK EUROPE April 17, 2013 Cap and Trade Collapses Even the European Parliament rejects carbon price-fixing. One of the great policy bubbles of our times has been cap and trade for carbon emissions, and on Tuesday it may have popped for good. The European Parliament refused to save the EU’s failing program, which is the true-believer equivalent of the pope renouncing celibacy. The Parliament in Strasbourg voted 334-315 (with 63 abstentions) against propping up the price of carbon credits in the EU Emissions Trading System. The failed proposal would have delayed the scheduled sale of 900 million ETS permits over the next seven years, thereby suppressing supply. After carbon traders realized they weren’t getting more artificial scarcity, they drove the price of emissions permits down by 40% at one point on Tuesday. EU carbon permit prices have collapsed as the Continent’s economic crisis curbs energy demand. Utilities and industrial firms have less need to emit CO2 above their statutory limits. Total emissions in the EU fell by nearly 10% between 2007-2011, according the most recent data. The low price of carbon allowances is good for consumers who don’t have to absorb the extra regulatory cost in what they pay for energy. Anticarbon crusaders never give up, however, so they wanted the Parliament to intervene to prop up permit prices. They want higher-than-market prices for fossil fuels because they know that is only way they can force the production of renewable energy that is otherwise uncompetitive. The Parliament majority rightly judged that raising energy prices for companies and households is ludicrous when Europe is barely growing as it is. This failed political intervention also gives the lie to the claim that cap and trade is a “market solution” to climate change. Proponents only like the market in permits when it keeps carbon emissions prices high. Cap and trade is an attempt to use brute political force to limit the supply of carbon energy. All of which vindicates the Bush Administration and others who opposed cap and trade in the Kyoto Protocol. Aided by Al Gore, Europe tried to turn cap and trade into a global policy. The hot air started to go out of Kyoto after its early backers refused to implement job-killing legislation to meet emissions targets. It lost further support when it became clear that financial firms were gaming the system. With the U.S. shale fracking revolution, it’s now clear that the fastest way to reduce greenhouse gases is to let private drillers expand natural gas production. When even Europe recognizes the folly of artificially raising energy prices, the anticarbon obsessives have lost in their own climate-change temple. Continue reading
