The goal of self-sufficiency is luring urbanites to the countryside, pushing up prices of land.
Knight Frank’s head of regional farm sales, James Prewett, said areas such as the Cotswolds, Hampshire and Oxford were attracting interest, and that buyers wanted their “own private water supply and renewable energy.”
Figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors show the average cost of farmland in England and Wales has reached £10,067 an acre. The rise comes against a backdrop of limited supply and a large level of interest from prospective buyers, however the change in stamp duty is also playing its part – buyers of homes valued at over £1.5m pay a 12% levy, while buyers of mixed-use properties valued at over £500,000 pay 4%.
