Commercial farms in hot demand in Yorkshire and Humberside

• What did farmers buy in 2016?

Andrew Black, director, Savills, York

Considering that we started the year with much of the county under water, stock markets wobbling, commodity prices depressed and land values under pressure, you may have thought that Brexit would have been the final straw.

A number of sales were delayed around the referendum and some purchasers were understandably cautious, but the Brexit vote has, so far, been positive for the farming industry and the land market.

Land has traded publicly and privately in the range of £9,000 to £11,000 per acre for Grade 2 and well-situated Grade 3 land.

Properties requiring capital investment have been more difficult to sell. Nationally based purchasers have become more selective and rollover buyers appear to be in no rush unless the ideal property becomes available.

Farmers continue to underpin the market, together with investors and institutions, for land that may have development potential in the longer term.

There were fewer debt-related sales this year, but more were former tenanted holdings. 

There have also been more late autumn launches than in previous years and volumes may be up slightly next year, although underlying supply remains tight.

Tom Wilkinson, land agent, Robin Jessop, Bedale

We have seen limited changes to the tenanted sector during 2016. There is a consensus that landlords are choosing not to review AHA rents and there is some sympathy being shown to FBT tenants when reviewing agreements.

The vote to leave the EU and continued low returns have affected the market to a lesser degree than many predicted.

However, it will be interesting to see if spring 2017 brings forward sales for those who would like to capitalise on the historically high land values while the period of uncertainty and low profitability within most sectors continues. 

The land market in 2016 has been increasingly variable both in terms of the level of demand and price achieved.

The level of demand for bare land has been increasingly dependent upon its quality, the immediate neighbours and the amount of local land recently marketed. We have seen some blocks selling very quickly to competing neighbours.

The underlying interest in land is still from farmers. However, there is also interest from parties with other income streams – neighbouring residential property owners and private investors – who are less reliant on farm profitability.

Tom Watson, director, Cundalls, York

It has been a year of two halves. We have sold certain parcels of land at record prices per acre, often substantially in excess of guides. However, having a deep-pocketed neighbour has been one of the biggest factors.

In contrast, some parcels of land haven’t sold and may continue to struggle.

The market for well-equipped 100-acre to 500-acre farms seems strong. There is still substantial rollover money in the market and cash is also cheap to borrow, with many farmers taking advantage by purchasing blocks of land or secondary farms.

Certain buyers are more picky and some parcels of bare land have certainly found buyers being more cautious.

Farmers are still the largest buyers, with investors and lifestyle equal second.

None of our 2016 sales have been as a result of low farmgate prices, but I feel there could be more sales for this reason in 2017.

There is still a shortage of land to rent, so demand remains strong. So while open-market rents have generally eased back in 2016, some rents have still achieved head-scratching, eye-watering levels.