• Estate structure The average estate structure for those estates participating in the survey is 4,400 acres and includes 49 residential properties and 10,400 sq ft of commercial workspace. Sizes of estates within the survey range from below 1,000acres to above 20,000 acres.
• Estate ownership Institutionally owned estates represent a quarter of the estates in the survey with the remainder in private ownership. The owner is resident on three quarters of the privately owned estates.
• Ownership objectives Long-term retention of the core estate and income generation remain the key objectives for the owners of these rural estates followed by return on capital and environmental stewardship.
• Footnotes We regularly review our survey data, which means the data published each year may not exactly match that published in the previous year’s survey. Separate results are published for Scottish estates.
• Balfour Matrix The 2011 survey sees some minor changes in data presentation to link in with our Balfour Matrix – a tool based on the outcome of the Brander (Personal Representative of the late 4th Earl of Balfour) v HMRC (TC 69) case. The data identified within the survey can be used to indicate whether an estate meets the principles required to apply for Business Property Relief from Inheritance Tax (IHT), which is a wider relief than Agricultural Property Relief.

Taken from
Estate Benchmarking Survey 2011