A lack of supply and persistent political uncertainty keep the market in a holding pattern, but demand remains resilient and values are largely stable
The feeling of treading water that settled over the farmland market in 2025 has shown few signs of dissipating so far this year, according to the latest Knight Frank Farmland Index.
Continued political and economic uncertainty, exacerbated by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East – which has seen input costs such as fuel and fertiliser spiral – combined with poor weather at the start of the year, have meant that few new farms, blocks of land or estates were put up for sale during the traditional spring selling season.
By the end of March, the acreage of publicly marketed farmland was down 54% on the same period in 2025, itself a period of relative scarcity. Just 5,600 acres were advertised across England and Wales.
“It’s a frustrating time to be selling farms and estates because there is so little good stock coming on to the market,” says Will Matthews, Head of Farms and Estate Sales at Knight Frank. “A significant number of the properties we are seeing are executor’s sales. Unless they have to sell, potential vendors don’t think it’s worth putting anything up for sale because of all the negative sentiment about politics and the economy in general. Obviously, what is happening in the Middle East won’t have helped the mood either.”
Despite a perception by vendors that now is not a good time to sell, demand remains firm from a range of buyers. Although Rachel Reeves’s changes to the agricultural and business property relief regimes have caused widespread outrage, the opportunity to pass on £5 million of assets free of Inheritance Tax – and pay a discounted rate of 20% on anything above that threshold – remains attractive to some people.
As a result, average values have remained largely unchanged. According to the latest results from the Index, which tracks the value of all types of bare agricultural land in England and Wales, prices dropped by just 0.9% to £8,622/acre in the first quarter of 2026. Over a 12-month period, average values are down only 5%.
Knight Frank’s Farms & Estates team is still achieving £10,000/acre and above for most arable land it is selling. The base price for arable land west of London remains around £10,000/acre, and a recently launched block in the south of England has already attracted a good number of viewings from high-net-worth individuals.
“In reality, there remains an awful lot of money moving around in the system,” says Matthews. “The right property, whether it’s a classic country estate or a large block of quality farmland, will attract buyers.”
With so few transactions testing the market, the key question is when the farmland market will build enough momentum to break free from its current state of inertia. More sales are in the pipeline for the second half of April and into May, but there is little evidence that volumes will be high enough to put significant pressure on prices in either direction.
“The bad weather at the start of the year hasn’t helped, and a number of the properties that were due to be launched in the spring have been delayed,” Matthews adds. “It probably won’t be until the end of May that we get a real idea of how prices are going to perform in 2026.”
It appears that this will be another year of ‘wait-and-see’ for both buyers and vendors.