Andrew Shirley

Monday

Andrew Shirley

Fine wine overtakes classic cars as number one investment of passion

From our UK edition

'Investments of passion,' those objects of desire that are nice to own but will also hopefully rise in value. When I'm editing The Wealth Report, Knight Frank’s annual publication examining wealth distribution, the threats and opportunities for wealth creators, prime property markets and commercial real estate investments, 'investments of passion' is the section I most enjoy. My own advice is buy what you love and if it goes up in value so much the better, but some people do look at these things from an investment perspective. So, if that’s your thing, what should you be looking at? Well, according to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII) which tracks the value of 10 of these desirable asset classes, wine was the top performer last year.

Tuesday

Andrew Shirley

UK farmland: will the fields still be gold after Brexit?

From our UK edition

I first started tracking the farmland market in the UK at the turn of the century when I joined Farmers Weekly magazine as its property editor. Back then decent farmland was priced at around £2,500 an acre. Fast forward to the present day and land routinely changes hands for more than £10,000 an acre. According to the Knight Frank Farmland Index (I jumped the journo/corporate fence in 2008), the average price of bare farmland in England and Wales – that’s land with no houses or buildings on it, just crops or animals – was worth £2,037 an acre in 2000. It’s now £7,672 an acre – a rise of almost 280 per cent. So what’s happened during that time to drive up prices?

Tuesday

Andrew Shirley

Want to invest in classic cars? You could be on to a winner

From our UK edition

I have a confession. I’ve been unfaithful with a Spanish beauty I met on the internet a few weeks ago. All my life the object of my desire has been home-grown. I was born in the same place as Aston Martin (the unassuming north Buckinghamshire town of Newport Pagnell) and my loyalty never strayed. Until now. I was doing some research for a magazine that Knight Frank publishes in Spain and it just happened. I came across the Pegaso Z102 and it took my breath away. I’m not sure even the feline lines of the iconic DB5 can compare. Perhaps it was the exoticness that did it for me. Fewer than 100 Pegasos ever roared out of the Barcelona factory where they were made between 1951 and 1958.