The Noise fades, The Land Remains

Posted on 8th April 2026 by Adam Mackrell

As I write this I am sitting on a train between Pisa and Florence, having flown here from London yesterday.

The sun is falling on the Tuscan hills which surround the flat plain where this trainline has been layed, the noise has faded away in to the background. The Mediterranean pines give the whole scene a sense of landscape having been here, fairly unchanged, probably since the time of the Etruscans!

I brought the family with me and they are sitting comfortably on the train, though they seem mainly calm (A rarity at this age), they are also clearly excited about arriving in the beautiful city awaiting us on the other side of the Apennines, Florence.

Their, indeed our excitement is particularly intense given that we know one of our first tasks will be to make and then most definitely eat – pasta. A very Italian thing to do….

The train is now drawing into Empoli, a rather non-descript looking place, but one which sits very close to the village of Vinci from where Leonardo came. There seems to be reminders everywhere in Tuscany of its extraordinary cultural impact on the world. During the course of our trip we will be visiting the hilltop town of Arezzo, taking in a choir performance at the English church in Florence and, most excitingly visiting the great Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of St Mary of the flowers.

Yet sitting here looking out across these hills as we glide through and as the noise fades, what strikes me most is not what has been built here, but what has not changed.

The Land!

These same hills have been farmed, divided, very likely fought over, inherited and protected for thousands of years. Empires have come and gone, families have risen and fallen. Entire financial systems have been invented, flourished – some briefly – and then disappeared again.

But the land remains….

It is a quiet reminder that while structures around ownership evolve constantly, the underlying asset does not. Houses change, styles change, even entire cities reinvent themselves, but the land beneath them endures in a way very few other things do.

It is perhaps no coincidence that just beyond these fields sits Florence, a city that helped shape much of the financial world we recognise today. Banking systems, trade finance, early forms of structured investment all took root here. New ways of owning, sharing and moving value layered on top of something far older and far more permanent.

We are here at OSG, in many ways, are trying to do the same thing now. In our world of property and the private rental sector, the conversation often focuses on rates, policy, tax changes or short term sentiment. All important, of course. But they sit on top of a much simpler and far more durable truth.

There is only so much land.

Populations grow. Cities expand. Demand shifts and evolves. But the fundamental constraint does not move.

And so while the way we access, structure and invest in property may continue to change, from traditional ownership to funds and now we are increasingly looking to more fractional and accessible models, the underlying principle remains exactly as it was when those Etruscan settlements first appeared across these hills.

A finite asset, quietly doing its job over time.

As we continue this journey, both here in Tuscany and back home in Oxford, it is something we try to remain mindful of. Building carefully, thinking long term and, importantly, doing so in a way that benefits everyone involved without needing to force outcomes or chase short term noise.

For now though, the train is slowing, Florence is approaching and there is pasta to be made, right now that’s the priority!!

OSG’s Vista

Time does the heavy lifting
Short-term noise fades. Long-term assets endure.

Supply is still the story
Planning, land, and labour remain constrained.

Income keeps showing up
Rents are not exciting. They are reliable.

Structure is the edge
How you hold assets now matters as much as what you hold.

Patience gets paid
The market rewards those who can wait longer than others.

Warm regards

Adam Mackrell
Oxford Spires Group

Data referenced from: 

Nationwide House Price Index

Rightmove – January House Price Index

Zoopla House Price Index

Office for National Statistics (ONS) – Private Rent and House Prices UK

MoneySavingExpert – Mortgage rate and affordability analysis

Estate Agent Today – Mortgage affordability commentary

Savills Research – UK residential market outlook

Land registry portal