Values of woodland V. pasture land

Erik Hamburger

Well-Known Member
I would appreciate some advise / views please:

An opportunity has arisen to buy some land which is approx. 50% woodland and 50% pasture for grazing, it works out to approx. £5,000 per Acre, for a 100 Acres site.
The vendor is in principle prepared to sell off the woodland as a separate parcel, as he already has an offer on the pasture land.
Income from the ('commercially managed') woodland is virtually nothing, so is income from farming from the pastureland.
Income is from various conservation grants, timber, lamb and beef; offset against the expenses claimed in the official Accounts it makes you want to cry, if not hang yourself.
The investment in woodland, from my point of view, would be purely for IHT Planning purposes- a nice present for the children once I have put on my wings.

My question is can anybody advice if there is a big difference in value between WOODLAND and PASTURE land as I want to put together a proposal/bid in partnership with a friend.

Thank you for any comments/views - if possible underpinned with first hand knowledge/experience.

PS. The presence of deer on the land is, btw, totally not a decision-making factor. ;)
 
Hi Eric

Like many things in life, land has a value due to supply and demand and of paramount importance it's position and neighbouring landowners. For an investment of 250k to 500k you really need to get the advice of a rural land agent in the area, you may have to pay for the advice but this could save you money in the long run
 
I bought some woodland/arable in recent years its a fantastic investment opportunity especially if it holds deer, within eighteen months I was offered treble what I paid from a city broker/stalker.
I refused the offer although it was a great deal, since then land prices have rocketed around my way especially the arable and I would probably be somewhere near his original offer anyway now.
 
About 5 years ago I bought some land for wildfowling, from a financial perspective it's been a great investment tripling in value since I purchased it, but I never bought it for that reason, like you it's something for me to hand on to the boys eventually, also nothing beats going out on your own land.

At the moment it's IHT efficient, but I met with a land agent recently who said their are rumblings that a review is taking place to see about it moving to BPR, due to the amount of land being bought by non farmers so that only farmers would get the IHT relief. No one knows if it would be retrospective, as previously said a good land agent are worth their weight in gold with grants etc

Jono
 
About 5 years ago I bought some land for wildfowling, from a financial perspective it's been a great investment tripling in value since I purchased it, but I never bought it for that reason, like you it's something for me to hand on to the boys eventually, also nothing beats going out on your own land.

At the moment it's IHT efficient, but I met with a land agent recently who said their are rumblings that a review is taking place to see about it moving to BPR, due to the amount of land being bought by non farmers so that only farmers would get the IHT relief. No one knows if it would be retrospective, as previously said a good land agent are worth their weight in gold with grants etc

Jono

Bought "some land" that's a bit economic mate, by now I reccon you own more of those ouse washes than the rspb :eek:
 
The open market value of land has got no relationship to the income that can be derived from it. It's not being made any more, full stop!
 
A hundred acres of one's own, woodland and fields. Do a little stalking, put down a few pheasants maybe. Keep a few beasties, manage it all how you want without having to take into account landowners, farmers, estate managers. Heaven.

Sorry folks, just daydreaming.......
 
The last 150 acre farm sold near me worked out at nearly 12k an acre although there were a few buildings on it.
I recently had my house valued which has about 2.2 acres of land that I bought in 2004 for 2k , the same piece of land if the agents are to be believed attached to property would bump the price up another 60k !
 
There is definitely a difference between the price of arable land and forest. The value of sporting rights and amenity value put the value of forested ground up. Woodland is in great demand. There's a company called woodlands for sale, they buy up chunks of forest, say 50 acres and split it into half acre plots to sell to townies.

Like someone said, get some advice from a local land agent.
 
There is definitely a difference between the price of arable land and forest. The value of sporting rights and amenity value put the value of forested ground up.

Can't say I agree with that, based on my own experience.
Ordinary grazing land is going for at least 5K an acre around here, good quality is a heck of a lot more - maybe double that.
However, 600 acres of forested land on my boundary, was up for sale with stalking rights (no deer though) for 1K an acre.

Having said that, small blocks of "amenity" woodland (say, up to 10 acres) do often make a lot more. But it would seem that the OP is talking about a biggish chunk of land.

Like someone said, get some advice from a local land agent.

Definitely + 1 to this.
Last time I tendered for a piece of land I got a land agent to walk it with me first, and suggest a value. That was £100 well spent.
 
If its local to your place suggest David James to contact well clued up on argicultural land values in our area (based at Old Sobury BS37)

D
 
Don't forget to check that the stalking and sporting rights are included in the sale, otherwise you can end up owning woodland and not being able to pursue your shooting interests. Also check for SSI and SSSI's as they can make woodland management problematic.
 
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