The British forestry market has never been more active. According to the Forest Market Report, launched by Savills and UPM Tilhill, 2013 has been a record year with 50% more forestry property bought and sold compared to 2012, to a total value of £97.3 million.
* Give Country Life for Christmas and save up to 40% on a subscription
The average value per stocked hectare is also up-£7,057-giving an annual average growth since 2002 of 15.4%. Savills' Jonathan Henson explains: ‘Values of properties larger than 50 hectares [123 acres] have dropped in England, but prices in Wales are outperforming them for the first time.'
The rise was driven by investors seeking a sec-ure asset, but has been bolstered by potential tax reliefs, the rise of renewable energy and improved timber prices. Shirley Mathieson of rural accountants Saffery Champness in Inverness adds: ‘Investors consider the market to be a safe haven.'
* Follow Country Life magazine on Twitter
-
What everyone is talking about this week: Are people marrying younger?Week in, week out, Will Hosie rounds up the hottest topics on everyone's lips, in London and beyond.
-
‘It only remains for our descendants to curse our impotence and laissez-faire’: Only four photographs of a storied London townhouse survive inside the Country Life archive — and it was brutally demolished not once, but twiceNo. 32, Soho Square was demolished not once, but twice, despite warnings of doing so in Country Life.
