Lifestyle buyers snapping up residential farmland

While perhaps not the obvious choice for the average , residential farmland in the UK is proving exceptionally popular.While farmland prices increased by three per cent year-on-year from January to March, demand for residential farmland actually rose at the strongest pace for two years, according to the Rural land market survey for Great Britain from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).City bonuses this year were extraordinarily high, with 3,000 people walking away with a windfall of at least £1 million. The Centre for Economics and Business Research suggests that £7.5 billion was paid out in all and it is generally thought that around half of this is thrown into the property market. Rics suggests that this extra money has fuelled higher demand in the residential farmland sector, with amenity and lifestyle buyers showing much more interest in the market since the start of the year.Incredibly, non-farmer individuals now account for 46 per cent of the market and this is the largest proportion in one and a half years.It is thought that more and more people will be expressing an interest in residential farmland as the year progresses and this will necessarily boost property values. Julian Sayers, a spokesperson for Rics, suggested that residential farmland had in fact outperformed equities in the five years as an investment and there is no doubt is beginning to grab the attention even of those who had previously stuck to stocks and shares.The largest price rises for farmland were observed in Scotland, the West Midlands and the south-west during the first quarter of the year while prices fell slightly in Wales, the north-east and the north-west. Interestingly, the north-west actually saw the highest rise in demand for farmland during the first quarter, followed by Wales and Yorkshire and Humberside.Arable land remains more expensive than pasture but both have been rising in tandem for several years.Meanwhile, the Council of Lenders (CML) has revealed that gross mortgage lending in April reached £25.1 billion, rising by 16 per cent from the previous year. This also represents the sixth consecutive month of record lending figures, despite being 12 per cent lower than the £28.4 billion that was lent in March.The figures reflect the high level of confidence currently present in the UK property market and it is a factor that is significantly boosting property investment. are also proving popular as landlords look to take advantage of high rental demand.CML director general Michael Coogan commented that the figures provided evidence that the market is in robust shape and it is an assessment echoed by property investors up and down the country.