The farmland market in England and Wales continues to drift, with buyers and sellers hesitating in the face of ongoing political and economic uncertainty. According to the latest Knight Frank Farmland Index, average values for bare agricultural land fell by 2.3% during the second quarter of 2025 to £8,861/acre. That marks a 5.1% decline over the past 12 months, although prices remain 27% higher than five years ago and more than triple what they were two decades ago.
Despite these longer-term gains, the current market is lacking momentum. Activity remains subdued, and Knight Frank’s Farms and Estates team reports an increasingly inconsistent picture on the ground.
“There’s no clear rhyme or reason as to what’s selling and what’s not,” explains Will Matthews, Head of Farms and Estates sales at Knight Frank. “Some farms that have been sitting on the market for a while are suddenly attracting strong interest, while others are proving difficult to even get viewings. We’re not seeing clear value trends, and that reflects how few deals are actually being done.”
This slowdown in transactions is making it harder to establish reliable pricing benchmarks and is weighing on market confidence. While slightly more land has been brought forward this year compared to 2024, volumes remain well below pre-Covid norms.
“This year’s uptick is really just a response to how little happened last year,” explains Mr Matthews. “It doesn’t signal any major shift in sentiment among landowners.”
Despite speculation that next year’s changes to Inheritance Tax would trigger early sales by farm owners and family businesses, Knight Frank reports that activity remains limited.
“We’ve had virtually no calls from owners wanting to sell ahead of the proposed tax reforms,” says Mr Matthews. “It’s clearly a background concern, and I expect we’ll hear more about it in the months ahead, but it hasn’t yet influenced decision-making in any meaningful way.”
Demand-side factors are also weighing on the market. The slowdown in new housing development and infrastructure delivery has significantly reduced the pool of rollover buyers – typically motivated landowners looking to reinvest the proceeds of compulsory purchases or land sales. At the same time, a broader cooling in the prime housing market is having a knock-on effect on interest in equipped farms and residential estates.
“The development pipeline has gone quiet, and the top of the housing market is facing its own challenges,” notes Mr Matthews. “As a result, we’re seeing less urgency from the kind of buyers who were once a dominant force in certain parts of the farmland market.”
By contrast, the strongest demand continues to centre around bare blocks of high-quality arable and pasture land. Conservation-focused buyers, private investors and long-term wealth managers remain active, and are often better organised than in previous years.
“We’re definitely seeing a shift in how environmental buyers approach the market,” says Mr Matthews. “They’re more prepared, with funding secured and criteria agreed in advance. When the right opportunity appears, they’re in a position to move quickly.”
International interest remains notable, with the team receiving multiple recent enquiries from the US, Asia and the Middle East in recent weeks. Irish buyers also continue to be particularly active.
“There’s still significant global wealth focused on UK rural property,” says Mr Matthews. “But even at the top end of the market, people are taking their time. With all the geopolitical uncertainty in the world right now, few are in a rush to act.”
Despite these headwinds, the farmland market remains resilient by historical standards. When deals are struck, values continue to hold up well, particularly where land is well-located, high quality and sensibly priced.
“It’s a difficult market to read, but the fundamentals are still strong,” Mr Matthews concludes. “We may not see much change until the policy environment becomes clearer, but there’s no indication of a serious collapse. Sellers are generally prepared to wait, and the buyers are still out there.”
The Knight Frank Farmland Index has tracked the value of commercial agricultural land since 1944.