MAR 2007 VOL. 2

Did You Know…

... that farmland is the new hot commodity in global real estate investing? According to a February story from the Bloomberg News service, prices of farmland are soaring all over the world, because investors are betting that demand for ethanol will soar as the U.S. and other economies try to wean themselves off of fossil fuels.

According to Bloomberg, land prices rose 16% in Indiana and 35% in Idaho last year, outpacing the price increases of trendy flats in London and New York. Corn futures hit a 10-year high in February, setting up a bull market for cropland over the next 18 months,  Murray Wise, the chairman and chief executive officer of Westchester Group, told Bloomberg. His Champaign, Ill. firm bills itself as the nation’s top land investment advisor.

According to Bloomberg, Hancock Agricultural Investment Group in Boston purchased $100 million of farmland in 2006, bringing its holding to $865 million and Macquarie Bank plans to pump 1 billion Australian dollars, about $787 million, into a new agricultural fund.