New money in rural areas: assessing the impacts of investment in rural land assets

Abstract

This study examines the flow of new investment into rural land assets, particularly farmland, woodland and wineries, but extending also to leisure uses such as golf courses and theme parks, and to renewable energy. The profile of rural landowners has shifted markedly in recent decades, with family farmers and life-style buyers being joined by institutional investors, whose engagement with investment assets vary from being direct and active to being indirect, passive and concerned solely with the extraction of financial income. The reported research was driven by an interest in the impacts on localities – and nearby communities – of new patterns and sources of investment