2021 – OUR SIX YEAR TRADING MESSAGE

It has now become a bit of a tradition that approaching the 18th of November, the date that Threave Rural Limited was established, that we compile a brief resume of the last 12 months. It does seem only yesterday that Threave Rural was established and, in fact, the 18th November 2015 when the principals established the company, is now almost six years ago, it truly is ‘where has the time gone’?

Our aim remains unchanged to provide that client focused, bespoke and individual approach to all areas of rural and estate agency, along with the best advice and up to date information to our rural consultancy clients.

We continue to provide a 24/7 contact policy and still adopt a ‘no answering machine’ business and try to be available in person to our clients, whether buyers, sellers or those seeking advice, at any time.

We remain pro-active rather than re-active and continue to embrace change, firmly believing that where there is change there are new and un-tapped opportunities and given the dynamic and fast moving market we are involved in, we try to ensure we are meeting the needs and demands of the sector.

Last year we were working towards Brexit and in the middle of a global pandemic…well still within the global pandemic with alarm bells ringing with regards to other possible flare ups and lockdowns and Brexit done, but strongly caveated that matters are far from settled in many areas we are involved in. This year we have seen different working practices given restrictions and guidance which changed on an almost weekly basis for viewing properties etc. The vaccine is now moving towards a booster stage and, although the National News last night on some of the European outbreaks is not good, I am sure that if complacency does not creep in, we will manage to weather the storm.

PROPERTY SALES

Our property sales have, like so many others, have been phenomenal this year and we are delighted with the market share we are receiving, although never complacent and always looking forward to the next exciting instruction, we have seen a diverse portfolio of properties brought to the market and listed by Threave Rural. This includes commercial farms, rural residential, small holdings, residential dwellings, building plots, etc. and we continue to adopt the offers over method, setting reasonable guide prices and inviting offers in excess of any set guide price. We continue and firmly believe that this system generates the interest and competition for all properties with footfall being extremely important and, it can truly be said, that “we work with the best offer not the only offer”.

This year has been phenomenal with the percentage over guide price being far greater than we have seen in previous years. Dumfries & Galloway, where still good value for money, has experienced a real boost in property values.

The agricultural land market and farm sales again have been buoyed with non-agricultural money and we continue to see investors and forestry companies entering the market place for land that is suitable for planting and carbon projects. We have, over the last twelve months, experienced one of our busiest times with no fewer than 32 commercial farms or blocks of land being exposed on the open market, with a number of others sold privately prior to any advertising or market exposure. The rural residential market has seen demand outstrip supply and, as such, multiple offers for properties whether lifestyle properties, small holdings or, indeed, rural houses with good sized garden grounds, mainly going to closing dates with multiple offers and prices up to 70% over guide. The system again has been a bit disjointed given that High Street lenders, etc. are taking time to process loans and it is our policy to monitor all transactions from receipt of the offer to completion of the sale and takeover.

We look forward to 2022 in the property market with the same enthusiasm that we have done since the Company’s inception and will try to continually adapt to any change in policy which could be affected by the pandemic or any other political or economic conditions.

AGRICULTURAL CONSULTANCY

IACS/SAF again this year was carried out remotely with the Scottish Government Rural Payments & Inspections Division remaining closed to the general public with a ‘working from home’ policy as seems to be the rest of the Scottish Government Departments. Again, this year, the deadline was not extended past the 15th May and we are pleased to report that all of our IACS/SAF applications were completed on time. We are disappointed to note that Department has now come back and is carrying out checks on European Commission Regulations from 2015. It is difficult for our agricultural clients to understand and accept how it has taken 6 years for this to happen and that, although there is a 60 day Right of Appeal, a large percentage of the anomalies come from mapping changes undertaken electronically or from aerial photographs. We continue to assist our clients with this and hope that the focus can be changed from historic problems to the way that the Scottish Government wishes to take the agricultural industry. The Common Agricultural Policy has still to be reviewed and given we are now through Brexit, DEFRA south of the border, has introduced a new framework, it remains a matter of fact that Scotland has not committed or informed of any way that they wish to move matters.

Input costs continue to rise within the industry and although we have seen better prices for our products i.e., beef, lamb, crops and milk, the input costs are now squeezing margins with fertiliser costs, fuels costs, etc. rising to unprecedented levels.

We would like to thank a variety of professional firms throughout D & G for your continued support, our local and very talented suppliers, Small Print, King St CD, who produce high quality brochures, web files and stationery very quickly to meet our demands and Infinite-Eye, our web developer, for a fab and well complimented website.

We pay special thanks all our customers old and new for the faith that they have shown in Threave Rural Ltd., and we look forward to continuing to serve our customers in all aspects of our business with the optimism and diligence we have applied from the conception of Threave Rural.

A W Paterson FIA (Scot)
Dawn A Roberts (BSc)
Directors – Threave Rural Ltd.