Expanding farmers may be disadvantaged as outside investors drive land prices upwards

A review of the land prices attained in 2013 suggests values are on the rise, with some suggesting investors, emigrants, and those looking to avoid risk exposure to their large deposit balances, are driving buoyancy in the land market.

A high land price is good, if you are selling. But, for most farmers with ambitions to expand, high land prices mean that buying any significant tract of land is neither affordable nor economically viable.

Meanwhile, investors with cash to spend look at land differently. The return in the form of rents is almost a certainty, land is of course a non-perishable asset, and ownership and title are readily obtained, with relatively low transaction fees.