Goldcrest Land & Forestry Group
Jon Lambert, Partner at GOLDCREST Land & Forestry Group recently commented on the state of the current forestry market in Scotland: ‘In my 28 years of selling forestry throughout Scotland, I am struggling to recall a moment in time when there has been so much demand for woodland and forestry. The drivers are numerous and varied, however in summary the main players comprise; private purchasers who see the asset class as a tangible, enjoyable and robust investment. Institutions understand the global demands on timber supplies as the world population increases and fossil fuels and building materials such as concrete and steel have fallen out of fashion. Businesses and corporations who are addressing their ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) are desperately keen to create and or acquire Carbon Credits through afforestation.
Carbon Credits can only be created by taking bare land and changing its current use, to woodland. We have seen large increases in planting land values for commercial conifer ground over the last 3-4 years, but within the last six months the market interest has soared for land that will grow native broadleaved woodlands.
It has been well documented how the Scottish Government has been incredibly supportive of the industry and has had an admirable record over the last three years of encouraging and helping to deliver a large number of planting schemes over many hectares. Despite the challenges of Covid they have approved applications for over 13,000 hectares for this financial year.
Over the last decade the majority of forests I have sold have been older rather than younger. That is partly due to large scale commercial forest planting that took place in the 1960s/70s/80s but also some owners deciding to sell before having to fell and restock. However, where we have sold young or mid rotation crops in the recent past they have, almost without exception, made exceptional prices, indicating encouraging signs of support for the asset class long term.’