Scala Land Group - Land Investment Articles
If you want to find advice on investing on the stock market, you can walk into a good newsagent and buy magazines like Investors Chronicle. They’ll offer wise words on all elements of equity and bond investment, as well as covering investment funds, unit trusts, ISA’s and SIPPs. Or, if you prefer, make an appointment with an independent financial adviser for an in-depth discussion about your needs. As well as covering all the items mentioned above, an IFA will also – probably – talk about insurance, pension plans and inheritance tax planning. Rarely, though, will an IFA mention property and land as investment vehicles.
In the media, you there are magazines devoted to investing in areas like property and buy-to-let – in fact you can even see programmes on television – but you won’t have seen anything specifically covering land investments. That’s because, until relatively recently, a retail market for land investment didn’t exist. You could hardly describe land investment as a best-kept secret, but it has always been thought of as the reserve of the rich, or those who through accident of birth inherited land.
That’s because land tends to be sold by the field full, or even the farm full. Small land plots rarely come on the market, and if they do it is often after planning permission has been gained and so they are priced for property developers, rather than smaller investors.
If you know where to look, coverage of the price performance of land has always been out there, generally as a specialist report in a specialist journal. Use the search facility on websites like Farmers Weekly or Estates Gazette to find recent coverage. The major estate agents dealing in land often carry special reports or news articles on their websites. Chief amongst these are Knight Frank and Savills. Another body that studies and reports on land prices is the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. As land prices rise, so mainstream media are beginning to report on land as a potential investment. Recently The Times, The Independent and the BBC have carried stories covering the rising price of land and the possibilities of investment. Using the search facility on sites like these often reveals articles which existing or potential land investors should study.
At Scala, we monitor the press carefully for articles relevant to investment in land, and our own website provides links to the most relevant recent news stories. Our advice: check Scala’s home page frequently to see whether any new links are in place. Or contact Scala, for the latest industry news.
Tel: 020 7965 4747
