English farmland values to keep growing
The agent’s latest report found that agricultural estate prices jumped 2.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 as demand outweighs supply. The average value is now £10,523 per acre, a strong increase despite a simultaneous drop in agricultural activity thanks to above average rainfall. As a result, some farmers are rethinking their business strategies or, in some cases, considering selling up altogether.
The bumper harvest is not set to stop any time soon, though: Chesterton Humberts predicts that values will continue to grow 5 per cent per year for the next five years.
The growth has been led by Petersfield and Salisbury, where values have risen 4.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively.
“This suggests that growth in values is strongly linked to availability at the higher quality end of the market, in particular for commercial blocks and bare land,” notes Head of Rural David Hebditch.
Other alternative investment news around the world:
Carbon credits boost bottom line in New Zealand
Carbon credits have helped to boost the bottom line of a company in New Zealand.
City Forests began to sell carbon credits in February 2010, reports ODT, boosting its bottom line by $3 million. Now, those benefits have become even stronger: in the last financial year, City Forests sold credits to a trading bank and oil company. The profit? $6 million.
The figures arrive while the current trading price is at a depressed $4 each, but City Forests secured $20 for each credit thanks to forward purchase contracts that committed companies to buy them. The contracts were signed at the peak of the market.
The company has no plans to sell any more in the coming financial year.
Gold investment beats stocks
As the world marks the five year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers’ financial crash, alternative investments seem to have the upper hand: gold investment prices slid $25 per ounce on Friday 13th September and world stock markets held steady, but gold investment has still beaten stocks in the long run.
“Global finance is a long way from safe,” Economist magazine is quoted as saying by Gold News. Indeed, investment gold has seen its value drop 6.2 per cent in September, but the asset still outperforms traditional investments: stocks have averaged 7.8 per cent real returns per year since the collapse. For gold, returns are higher at 9.8 per cent.
Costa Rica negotiates sale of carbon credits
Costa Rica has made big steps towards meeting its 2021 carbon neutrality goal with a deal to protect 340,000 hectares of forests.
The government signed an agreement this month to conserve its forests and signed a letter of intent to negotiation an Emission Reductions Payment Agreement worth up to $63 million. The deal, signed with the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, commits the fund to negotiate the purchase of carbon credits, which will help Costa Rica to become completely carbon neutral – an ambition that will see it manage its land carefully and pursue sustainable green growth.