Land market takes a further dip

THE farmland market in England and Wales continues to drift, with buyers and sellers hesitating in the face of ongoing political and economic uncertainty.

- WMN REPORTER

According to the latest Knight Frank Farmland Index, average values for bare agricultural land fell by 2.3% during the second quarter of 2025 to £8,861/acre.

That marks a 5.1% decline over the past 12 months, although prices remain 27% higher than five years ago and more than triple what they were two decades ago.

Despite these longer-term gains, Knight Frank says the current market is “lacking momentum” coupled with subdued activity and an “increasingly inconsistent” picture on the ground.

Will Matthews, head of farms and estates sales at Knight Frank, said: “There’s no clear rhyme or reason as to what's selling and what's not.

Some farms that have been sitting on the market for a while are suddenly attracting strong interest, while others are proving difficult to even get viewings. We're not seeing clear value trends, and that reflects how few deals are actually being done.”

This slowdown in transactions is making it harder to establish reliable pricing benchmarks and is weighing on market confidence. While slightly more land has been brought forward this year compared to 2024, volumes remain well below pre-Covid norms.