A recent report by Savills has shown that UK land supply is at some of the lowest levels of the past 25 years. To the end of June 2019, 74,000ac of land was publicly marketed across Great Britain. This is almost the lowest level of land offered since Savills began recording acreage in 1995.

The only exceptions as to when there was less land offered in this period was during the foot and mouth crisis of 2001 (61,000ac) and in 2004 (74,000ac), the year before the Single Farm Payment was introduced.

The report puts policy change and political uncertainty as the two main reasons why sellers are being so cautious when it comes to bringing land to the market. The average price of land is remaining relatively stable, with tillage land making £8,700/ac, while grassland is making an average of £5,500/ac. As happened in 2004, the expected change to support payments to farmers in the UK is reducing the supply of land.

The biggest reduction in supply has been seen in Wales, down to 3,860ac being marketed for sale in the first half of 2019, compared with 7,080ac in the same period in 2018. In England supply was down 23%, with 54,000ac on the market, compared with 69,900ac for the first half of 2018.