2024 Rural Property Trends: Weather Woes, Tax Changes and Market Wins

This entry was posted on Friday, December 20th, 2024 at 5:38 pm

As we celebrate the festive season, let’s take a moment to reflect on and review the Rural Property Market in 2024.

The year started with challenging weather. The early to mid-spring brought heavy rains, leaving many fields, particularly in the Vale of York and Pickering, waterlogged. Despite these challenging conditions, the market responded positively, with strong demand leading to excellent results. Notably, a well-equipped farm with excellent facilities north of York surpassed its guide price by 13%, even with parts of the property underwater.

The General Election in July 2024 prompted many vendors to hold back and assess the outcome. Following the establishment of a Labour majority, all eyes swiftly turned to the Autumn Budget 2024, with speculation about what capital taxation rabbits were to be pulled from the Chancellor Rebecca Reeve’s hat. Anticipation of alterations to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) became a key factor, driving the rush to finalise unconditional contracts before 30 October 2024.

While the government plans to legislate an increase in the main rates of CGT from 10% and 20% to 18% and 24% respectively in the Finance Bill 2024-2025, the real shock came with the proposed changes to Inheritance Tax, which have stirred deep concern among farming and business communities. For further guidance on this issue, I recommend reading my colleague Rod Cordingley’s insightful article, ‘Don’t Panic Yet…’.

In October 2024, our firm successfully exchanged unconditional contracts on agricultural properties valued at over £18 million, with sales exceeding the quoted guide prices by an impressive 7%. Our internal data reveals that land values in North Yorkshire, which averaged £10,937 per acre in 2023, rose to £11,800 per acre in 2024. These figures, of course, only provide a snapshot of the current market conditions, highlighting that land quality, versatility, local demand and location continue to be the primary drivers of the market.

In summary, the rural property market remains reassuringly resilient and buoyant. Our key message remains that professional advice should be sought at the earliest opportunity to fully understand market conditions, the implication of potential Inheritance Tax change, to explore the options available and to develop a plan that suits your specific circumstances.  We are here to help you make informed decisions and develop a strategy that helps align with your objectives – please do connect with our team to discuss how we can support you.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

We look forward to working with you in 2025.

Henry Scott MSc MRICS

RICS Registered Valuer

Partner, Stephensons Rural and BoultonCooper

Email: henry.scott@boultoncooper.co.uk