Farmland market forecasts remain strong for 2012 - local research pays before you buy.

For those looking to buy agricultural land, you may need to adopt a number of stealth policies  to keep ahead of the game and enquire at a very local level.

The RICS have recently published statistics for the second half of 2011 and in summary their key points were:

• Farmland prices reach a record high in H2 2011
• Demand is being driven by commercial farmers
• Evidence banks are lending more freely to the agricultural sector to finance land purchases

It goes on to highlight "the growing disconnect between the flagging residential farmland sector and booming commercial arena" and states "price rises are being driven almost entirely by commercial farmers and while the outlook for prices is still very positive in this segment of the market, it has turned slightly negative in the residential sector".

The survey’s 'opinion' based measure (which is an estimate of the hypothetical value of pure bare land by surveyors) increased by 7% in H2 to £6514 per acre (taking the annual gain on this measure to 11%).

The strongest price gains in bare land values were in the West Midlands, with an impressive rise of 18% in H2 alone, making the West Midlands on average, the most expensive farmland in GB, at £7500 per acre.

This may all sound a bit gloomy for those who dream of owning a parcel of land. Much of the price rises are being driven by scarcity with two further influences. The first being the use of "farming" as an efficient tax planning vehicle for agricultural property relief (APR) on inheritance tax. I have a number of clients who generate their main income from other sources who are building up farmland holdings for this purpose and then creating agreements with contractors whereby it will be farmed in a qualifying manner. The second, is a very real demand by commercial farmers to expand the acreage they farm. The two are often linked.

In the geographical area in which I operate you need to be able to move fast and know what is going on. Much of the land I purchase is prior to market or, such is the demand, it is offered to a number of known individuals seeking land in that particular area. The last block of land I was involved in, I was approached to buy for my client before the owner had been buried and having bought it had an astonishing number of farmers calling me to see if it could be rented. I have recently found two farms that can be bought at a fair price privately and am awaiting client instructions although I believe the land will be bought for less per acre than that quoted above - it will take a lot of pressure off the deal if we agree terms before anyone else becomes involved. In short most land sold today rarely sees the pages of the Farmer's Weekly or local paper so don't sit and wait - ask around locally.

Property purchase makeovers - raising the roof.

Recently I have taken on a couple of new clients who have failed to find their perfect property. In both cases, they could not find the size and style of property they wanted in the desired location. One reason was that the size and style of property in the right location would be twice their budget - after several years and property cycles, this lead to them showing me either the right property in the wrong location and vice versa. In this part of the world in order to stretch your budget you have to be imaginative and explore all options. There are a lot of good country properties at sensible prices that either just need a makeover, extending or in extreme cases flattening. I am not talking about anything like the Channel 4 programme "Grand Designs" but changing the windows, rendering or re cladding the elevations or raising the ridge height. In many cases, depending on materials, the uplift can be significant and you are left with a very saleable country house. This is nothing new and I have worked with a number of architects over the years.

Not long ago, I ran into Johnny Holland of Hackett Holland www.hackettholland.co.uk . He trained at The Prince of Wale's Institute of Architecture. And, albeit an architect  with a business based in Notting Hill and Kensington, he is restoring a Victorian Farmhouse and buildings in West Dorset along with projects for existing clients in the Dorset and Somerset areas.

Armed with his deep knowledge of architecture and sources of materials and fittings both contemporary and vernacular, he has accompanied me on three recent jobs where he has helped me give reassurance to the client on a property's potential through explaining what a place could become and resulted in an acquisition. For example, the first project was an unattractive 1970's build farmhouse in a spectacular location. The budget was limited so rather than a full rebuild, it involved a basic overhaul externally to give it a "Jacobite" appearance, reconfiguration of room sizes and landscaping the gardens appropriately. It really wasn't hard or costly. The client got exactly what they couldn't afford with the benefits of a modern house and no unseen future expenditure or repairs. The second project was all about the setting and involved drawing the accommodation out laterally, re cladding and landscaping the gardens again but following a Georgian design. The third along similar lines involved adding a contemporary space to an existing small preiod dwelling.

It's all good stuff and should never be overlooked. There are endless opportunities out there if you try this approach, just make sure you choose a suitable architect with the relevant experience so as to avoid disappointment. It can work on most structures from barns to bungalows.