Investigation of land price determinants in selected districts of the Western Cape

Date
2022-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : Land is a key production factor in agriculture, accounting for approximately 10 percent total value of intensive farming operations if fixed and moveable assets are taken into consideration. The longstanding significance of land to the farming community and landowners had made agricultural land values the subject of great importance when defining farm real estate. Furthermore, there is a need for understanding the relationship that exists between the prices paid for agricultural properties and identifying the factors that play a role in determining the value. Valuers of agricultural land need to know which land characteristics are the most relevant, and also be able to put themselves in the position of typical buyer and seller to determine the worth of a subject property i.e. the farm property to be valued. This research aimed to identify various relevant variables, and to understand the price determining factors in various districts within the confinement of the Western Cape Province. The structure, size and environmental conditions of the agricultural land market differs considerably between the selected study areas. This was of paramount importance as variables tend to differ across study areas and different enterprises. This study focused on the comparable sales method, the most appropriate valuation method for farmland, which requires the comparison of farms recently sold in the same areas as the subject property, further accounting for differences and similarities between the properties to be valued. Multiple linear regression and factor analysis were used to reach the objectives of this study. The four areas were analysed separately, as they presented differences in characteristics with regards to the chosen variables in their descriptive statistics, factor analysis and regression analysis. The identified factors fell into various categories. These factors accounted for 78.74% of the total variance in Stellenbosch, 74.58% in Malmesbury, 80.06% in Swellendam and 68.5% in The Karoo areas, meaning that they were a true representative of the price determining components of agricultural land. This study’s’ results were also consistent with the literature, discovering that the size of the property, grazing capacity, amount of land cultivated, distance to cities, climate, and lastly the aesthetics of the study area through beauty, were all important in explaining values of the agricultural properties. Furthermore, the results obtained in this study denotes that the chosen variables can only be used as guidelines to aid valuators when performing valuations. Special emphasis is being placed on rainfall, as it consistently made up a bulk of the total variance in the factor analysis.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Grond is ’n belangrike produksiefaktor in die landbou, en maak ongeveer 10 persent van die totale waarde van intensiewe boerderybedrywighede uit wanneer vaste en roerende bates in ag geneem word. Die jarelange betekenis van grond vir die boeregemeenskap en grondeienaars maak die waardes van landbougrond die onderwerp van aansienlike belang wanneer plaaseiendom omskryf word. Verder is daar ’n behoefte om die verband te verstaan tussen die pryse wat vir landbou-eiendomme betaal word en die uitwys van faktore wat ’n rol speel by die bepaling van die waarde. Waardeerders van landbougrond moet weet watter grondeienskappe die mees relevante is, terwyl hulle hul ook in die posisie van ’n tipiese koper en verkoper moet kan plaas om die waarde van ’n onderwerpeiendom te bepaal, dit wil sê die plaaseiendom wat gewaardeer moet word. Hierdie navorsing was daarop gemik om die onderskeie relevante veranderlikes te identifiseer, en om die prysbepalende faktore in verskeie distrikte binne die ruimte van die Wes-Kaap te verstaan. Die struktuur, grootte en omgewingstoestande van die landbougrondmark verskil aansienlik tussen die uitgesoekte studiegebiede. Dit was uiters belangrik omdat veranderlikes geneig is om oor studiegebiede en verskillende ondernemings te verskil. Hierdie studie fokus op die vergelykbare marktransaksie metode wat die mees geskikte waardasiemetode is vir plaasgrond, en behels die vergelyking van plase wat onlangs verkoop is in dieselfde gebiede as die betrokke eiendom (onderwerpeiendom) wat waardeer moet word, en die oorweging van die verskille en ooreenkomste tussen die verkoopte eiendomme en die onderwerpeiendom. Veelvuldige lineêre regressie- en faktorontledings is gebruik om die studiedoelwitte te bereik. Die vier gebiede is afsonderlik ontleed, omdat hulle kenmerkverskille in die gekose veranderlikes wat hul beskrywende statistieke, faktorontleding en regressie-ontleding betref, vertoon. Die geïdentifiseerde faktore is in verskeie kategorieë verdeel. Hierdie faktore was verantwoordelik vir 78,74% van die totale afwyking in Stellenbosch, 74,58% in Malmesbury, 80,06% in Swellendam, en 68,5% in die Karoo-gebiede, wat beteken hulle was ’n ware verteenwoordiger van die prysbepalende komponente vir landbougrond. Hierdie studieresultate was ook in pas met die literatuur en daar is bevind dat die grootte van die eiendom, die weidingkapasiteit, die hoeveelheid bewerkte grond, afstand na stede, die klimaat, en laastens die natuurskoon van die studiegebied van belang was om landbou-eiendomme se waarde te verklaar. Verder dui die studie-resultate daarop dat die gekose veranderlikes alleen as riglyne gebruik kan word om waardeerders met die uitvoering van waardasies behulpsaam te wees. Spesiale klem word op reënval geplaas, omdat dit deurgaans die grootste deel van die totale variansie in die faktorontleding uitmaak.
Description
Thesis (MScAgric)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.
Keywords
Farms -- Valuation -- Western Cape (South Africa), Commercial real estate -- Valuation -- Western Cape (South Africa), Farms -- Valuation -- Statistical methods, UCTD
Citation