COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THREE FORESTLAND ASSESSMENT METHODS

Abstract

Given the increasingly frequent practice of forest stand establishment in rural properties, with a steadily rising number of properties becoming home to forest crops, there is a pressing need to improve property assessment methodologies, as more and more crops will be entering the market. The objective of this work is thus to perform a comparative study of three methods of forestland assessment: market value, cost value and productive value. To that end, an eucalyptus stand with a 7-year final cutting cycle was considered. Results showed a substantial difference among methods. Market value provided greater variation with the advancing of forest age, equaling productive value toward the end of the cycle. In year 0, market value provided the lowest values, while in year 7 cost value provided the lowest values. Further and more specific research and studies should be performed to obtain more specific methodologies to value this type of rural property and all of its peculiarities.