SLE responds to Scottish Land Commission’s Rural Land Market Insights Report 2024

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates, the rural business organisation, has issued the following statement in response to the publication of the Scottish Land Commission’s Rural Land Market Insights Report 2024, which covers patterns of land sales in Scotland.

Stephen Young, Director of Policy at Scottish Land & Estates, said:

“The Scottish Land Commission’s report notes the slowdown in the rural land market in 2023, compared to 2020/2021, and claims that this demonstrates a need for new legislative measures such as those contained within the draft Land Reform Bill. 

“In reality, many current land reform recommendations are based on assumptions from single year reports in the past which give an unrealistic impression of the long-term drivers and trends in the land market, use and ownership.

“The need for further legislation is not a view that is shared by rural and landowning businesses, including many land agents who are members of Scottish Land & Estates, and caution is required on this justification for land reform by the SLC based on anecdotal interviews rather than empirical evidence. 

“Indeed, it is poorly devised interventions by government that often creates uncertainty in the market - and it is not a reason for yet more laws. Many government policies, such as changes to short-term and long-term letting of properties, are highlighted within the report as having a detrimental impact on land values. 

“The report shows that off-market sales of land are only a feature of certain transactions and it is bizarre that the Scottish Government wants to heighten the ambiguity of rural land sales by introducing an approval and lotting process for holdings over 1,000ha when it is simply not necessary. 

“The sale of farmland continues to be the key driver of rural land transactions in Scotland and as the report makes clear, existing farming businesses seeking to buy land to achieve economies of scale is the most cited motivation for buying farmland. 

“Far from the characterisation of financial institutions and investors buying up huge tracts of land, these farming businesses are expanding and in doing so, creating jobs, supporting communities and enhancing nature which should be welcomed by us all.”