Keep up to date with the latest Stags news
Throughout 2021 and the beginning of 2022, Stags has witnessed first-hand the huge popularity and growing level of interest in purchasing woodland amongst a wide variety of buyers.
The launch of Maskall Wood near Shebbear, Devon is one idyllic example, featuring 7.25 acres of private broadleaf woodland and a cabin with boardwalk leading down to two interconnecting ponds. Andrew Ranson, Associate Partner at Stags, comments: “Since marketing began on Christmas Eve, we received huge levels of enquiries, with a staggering 70 viewings arranged in less than a month.”
Some noteworthy woodland sales during 2021 include: the sale of the Braddon Estate, Ashwater, which included a large block of approximately 120 acres of mixed woodland with some areas of stream frontage. This was sold by private treaty to a commercial forestry purchaser, achieving a sale price around its guide of £4000 per acre.
In November, 3.3 acres of amenity woodland near Yelverton, on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, sold via online auction, achieving a sale price of £61,000 from a local buyer.
Near Pancrasweek, two lots of young broadleaf woodland totalling 17.44 acres were sold by private treaty to two different parties, achieving a combined total of around £150,000.
Elsewhere, a community group was able to harness the power of crowdfunding to purchase, just prior to auction, two lots totalling 4.77 acres of wetland woodland adjacent to the beach at Seaton, Torpoint. The combined auction guides of £60,000- £80,000 were exceeded.
Finally, a stand-out sale last year was 0.82 acres of woodland occupying a delightful position just 50 metres from the water’s edge in Feock, between Truro and Falmouth. The woodland had an auction guide of £20,000- £40,000 and offered very little prospect of development, given that it was covered by a whole woodland Tree Preservation Order (TPO) and that a planning appeal for a dwelling had recently been lost. In spite of this, the woodland drew interest from buyers all over the country, with over 60 bids placed at the online auction, resulting in the reserve being substantially exceeded and a sale price of £200,000 attained!
Possible motives for the increasing interest in acquiring woodland include the growing awareness amongst individuals of their carbon footprint (and their wish to mitigate this) as well as rising timber prices throughout the UK, with the Coniferous Standing Sales Price Index seeing a 49.8% rise in the 12 months to September 2021.
There has been a high level of demand for all sizes of woodland throughout 2021, with a variety of buyers based both locally and further afield. Early indications support our expectation that this trend will continue and further strengthen as we progress through 2022. If you are looking for advice or an appraisal of woodland or farmland, please contact Andrew or other members of his Farm Agency team on 01566 774999 or email farms.cornwall@stags.co.uk
