Argyll forest on the market with offers over £29million

A large-scale conifer plantation in the west of Scotland is up for sale with offers just short of £30million.

Inverneill Hill Forest, a compact, second-rotation commercial conifer forest, largely made up of Sitka spruce, and situation on the Mull of Kintyre peninsula is on the market for offers over £995,000.

The Glen Shira Forest stretches 1,969 hectares (4,866 acres), an area equivalent to about 5,000 football pitches, to the north of the A83 across Argyll and Bute.

Located near to Loch Fyne, an attractive tourist destination, the commercial plantation is currently receiving offers of more than £29million. This makes it one of the biggest commercial forest sales in terms of price to ever come to the open market, according to Goldcrest Land & Forestry Group, who are in charge of the sale.

Sitka spruce dominates the forest, with the non-native North American species making up 90 per cent of the area.

The site includes an internal forest road network and proximity to timber processors via agreed timber transport routes, and the seaports of Ardrishaig and Campbeltown.

The forest was established in the 1970s but has undergone systematic felling and restocking since 2010 which means it has “a substantial volume of timber ready to harvest over the next ten years,” the sellers said.

Jon Lambert, a partner at the chartered land and forestry agent, said he is confident the property will attract “significant interest from the marketplace.”

Speaking about the sale, he said: “Glen Shira Forest is the largest commercial forest to come to the market in the UK in 2023. It has extensive areas of mature timber ready for felling alongside much younger crops, providing a large age profile that will produce regular income in the years to come.”

The Glen Shira Forest overlooks Loch Fyne in Argyll and Bute and is on the market with offers of more than £29million (Goldcrest Land and Forestry handout)

The large-scale plantation is joined on the market by the smaller Inverneill Hill Forest, a compact, second-rotation commercial conifer forest, also largely made up of Sitka spruce, on the Mull of Kintyre peninsula.

Stretching about 98 hectares (242 acres) with easterly views of Loch Fyne, the area is for sale with offers of more than £995,000.

Mr Lambert said this smaller forest has “high yielding young crops combined with native broadleaves and areas of open ground which, subject to planning, might provide a site on which to build a house.”

The total value of the forestry investment market in the UK hit a new record in 2022, according to the latest forestry review by property consultant Strutt and Parker.

The report showed £219 million-worth of plantations traded in the 2022 calendar year, compared with £199 million in 2021.

Scotland took its normal place as the principal area of activity, with well over 90% of all sales taking place north of Hadrian’s Wall.

But property agents said there are signs that global events have influenced more caution in the forestry marketplace.

Alex Brearley, of Strutt and Parker, said lower timber prices, higher interest rates and inflation all mean that buyers have become more selective.

According to the review, there is some evidence that commercial planting land prices have fallen “quite significantly” in the last six months. However, property agents said the data is limited, which could reflect changes to the rules on eligibility for carbon credits for commercial forestry schemes, higher interest rates and the challenges of securing permission to plant.

Another key finding showed interest in carbon sequestration and biodiversity gain continues to drive wider interest in the forestry sector, but very few of the commercial woodlands traded in 2022 had a carbon angle.