At John Hall & Company our goal is to keep our buyers and sellers educated on issues that are important to Alabama landowners. Our areas of expertise encompass topics ranging from current market trends, wildlife and agriculture programs, timber management, creative financing, and much more. Our newsletter is generally published quarterly and sent out by email. If you wish to sign up to receive our newsletter click here. We are also interested in your ideas and feedback so if there is a topic you would like to see covered please don’t hesitate to contact one of our salesmen.
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This week's news:
Timberland, which a few years ago became a popular investment among institutions and wealthy folks, has held up amid market massacres for most other assets lately.
![[Timber Sprouts Growth]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/MI-AU733_TIMBER_NS_20090125221231.gif)
Through Sept. 30, the value of timberland rose 5%. When the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries reports 2008's final quarter this week, this number is unlikely to move much. That marks a slower pace of growth, yet it is growth nonetheless. In 2007, timber appreciation was a towering 15%.
How can positive returns exist in these dark days of shrunken prices for everything ranging from real estate to commodities to stocks? Oil, after a summer price spike, was down 54% in 2008, while corn lost 11% and copper 54%. (Gold, as a refuge commodity, rose 6%.) Prices for lumber, a key forest product, have fallen by 34% over the past year as housing construction has ebbed.
The answer to this riddle is that timberland is the ultimate long-term investment, with relatively little bought and sold each year -- and demand still respectable for what does change hands. "As long as the sun shines, the trees will grow," says Jeremy Grantham, chairman of Boston money manager GMO and a long-time fan of timber investing. "Timber will never be an orphan."
Source: Wall Street Journal 01/26/2009. Read the entire Article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123292802063613879.html
Timber land in
