EU Land Markets and the Common Agricultural Policy

46 | LAND SALES MARKETS IN THE EUentire transaction. The stated value and price of the transaction aredifferent. The stated value cannot be lower than an amount resulting froma calculation between the landowner’s income entered in the cadastre(moltiplica-tore catastale) and a landlord’s income in updated values. Theselast items are frequently reviewed by the ministry of finance.The tax rate of 11% to 18% is a sum of three different fees: imposta diregistro, imposta catastale and imposta ipotecaria. The imposta di registro can beapplied at 8% if the buyer is a full-time farmer or 15% in other cases. Therates for the imposte catastale and ipotecaria are fixed at 2% and 1%respectively.In the case of hereditary succession, the tax varies between 4% and8% depending on the relationship.5.1.3 Land use and other quantitative restrictionsIn addition to the sales price regulations, sales taxes and other transactioncosts, different restrictions on agricultural land sales, purchases and usehave been implemented in EU member states.For example, in Belgium, zoning regulation is a regional competenceand therefore land-use planning differs between Flanders and Wallonia. InFlanders, the objectives of the regional, spatial structure plan are to reducethe area of agricultural land (-56,000 hectares) in favour of woodland andnature reserves (+48,000 hectares), industrial land (+7,000 hectares) andrecreational areas (+1,000 hectares). Between 1994 and 2005, 11,600 hectaresof agricultural land disappeared and 13,400 hectares of woodland andnature reserves were created (Joly, 2003; Gellynck et al., 2006–07).In Wallonia, zoning regulation aims at increasing the zone designatedfor economic activity at the expense of the agricultural zone (Grandjean etal., 2006). Between 1986 and 2005, the urbanised zone increased by 2,950hectares. Yet, these modifications in the sector plan do not reflect thechanges in the occupation of the land. The agricultural zone of the sectorplan is not entirely occupied by agricultural plots – these coexist withwoodland, public infrastructure and housing. Similarly, not all agriculturalplots are situated in the agricultural zone: in 2001, 54,773 hectares ofagricultural land were located in the housing zone. These plots areparticularly under pressure and subject to speculation.