Smallholdings, Land + Property for sale, to rent + wanted ads for UK & Europe.

Ok Here goes I will start the ball rolling with the biggest question of all!

WIth Land prices falling steeply for quite some time are we approaching the bottom of the market?

Are you starting to look at some of the investments out there? for farming, houses or storage land

Lets open up the debate. Is it or

Thanks

Chris

Hi Chris and welcome to forums.

Lets hope a debate can be started here as personally I find it very confusing that many people appear to be looking online for land for sale or rent, the prices, like the housing market are dropping and as you say, are we at the bottom of the price drop ? Maybe there are further drops to come and people really will be able to bag a bargain investment.
Eitherway, there are people looking that's for sure, not everyone is affected by a recession monetarily BUT maybe the recession and the price drops are scaring people into not spending. The housing market is a buyers dream at the moment yet it's a renters paradise with more choice now probably than ever before and at reduced rents but hardly anything selling and if it does it really can be at a big loss to the owners.

I would also be interested to see other peoples views on this topic. All the best.

Yes its a tricky one but when assessing land in a rising market its very dangerous to assume projected resale values in a falling market its the way to get a very good deal indeed.

If you value the land on todays values and then assume a drop in resale value over the course of say 12 to 18 months and then set your land value you will have a realistic if way below market value. I bet if you are willing and have the funds and can give assurity that you will go though to completion, you could buy that plot at a much reduced level.

I think a large problem is the sort of sums we are talking about everyone needs the banks involvement which we all know isnt forthcoming so we shall just wait and see,however its definately a time for land owners to be securing those planning permissions and enhancing their land value ready for the return of the housing market.

Chris

Hi Chris, Ultimately, so long as a piece of land has good resale potential, the owner needs to sell and prices are dropping, then bargains will be had on a sale now or later before stabalisation kicks in, especially for those not reliant on the banks help.
To my mind it's those who have purchased land too close to the recession and don't have a good 'bankroll' to cover for rainy days who will suffer most as in most financial situations. Others will lose out for leaving things to late or having purchased a 'dead dog' unless they can hold their breath and tighten their belts long enough for the market to start picking up again before they try to break even or make minimal profit with a big lesson learned on their timing and research.

Having the 'bankroll' to secure a purchase over time is of course restricted to collective buyers and the 'rich' which is the 'same old' and will never change so the fact that regular buyers and budding entrepreneurs who 'need' the banks to start feeling good again in order to assist in making an initial purchase to make a profit means a long and frustrating waiting game in getting in on a good 'buy' before someone else with the 'bankroll' finds it.

Landowners improving the 'appeal' of their land with permissions is of course a good option but to my mind only if the land is development viable and in a spot that is viable to utilise or perfect for the solo builders happy to build on small plots and move on to the next project. I saw a perfect case in Milton Keynes where land had been divided into many small plots with the onus that it was perfect for development, MK is prime development area and the land was near affluent Woburn Sands BUT all the plots were priced too highly with restrictions on permissions for something like 10 years and I am sure there are plenty of these floating around that can't even be given away right now.