Prices mostly eased from year-ago and month-ago levels except for grazing and horticultural farms which gained in price compared to month-ago levels.
The REINZ said 77 more farm were sold during the three months to the end of January compared to the same period a year earlier but 15 fewer farm sales compared to the three months to December. The data confirms the strong period of sales leading up to Christmas and the easing of activity during January, the REINZ said.
The number of sales of arable properties increased by 17, finishing by 33, forestry by 3, grazing by 23, horticulture by 10, special by 2, and sales of dairy properties went down by 11 for the three months to January compared to the same period a year earlier.
A total of 532 farms were sold over the period. Grazing properties accounted for the largest number
of sales with 42.1% share, finishing properties accounted for 17.5%, dairy properties accounted for 16.9% and horticulture properties accounted for 11.5% of all sales.
These four property types accounted for 88.0% of all sales during the three months ended January 2016, REINZ said.
The median sales price per hectare for dairy farms was $39,367 (90 properties) for the period, down slightly from $39,690 for the three months ended December 2015 (86 properties), and down from $40,742 (101 properties) for the three months ended January 2015. The median dairy farm size for the three months ended January 2016 was 114ha.
The REINZ Dairy Farm Price Index fell 1.2% in the three months to January compared to the three months to December and fell 3.6% compared to January 2015.
The median sale price per hectare for finishing farms for the period was $23,172 (93 properties), down from $23,489 for the three months ended December 2015 (99 properties), and down from $23,506 (60 properties) for the three months ended January 2015. The median finishing farm size for the three months ended January 2016 was 46ha.
The median sales price per hectare for grazing farms for the period was $15,890 (224 properties) down from $16,656 for the three months ended December 2015 (226 properties), and up from $15,640 (201 properties) for the three months ended January 2015. The median grazing farm size for the three months ended January 2016 was 63ha.
The median sales price per hectare for horticulture farms was $216,000 (61 properties) down from $222,607 (68 properties) for the three months ended December 2015, and up from $205,634 (51 properties) for the three months ended January 2015. The median horticulture farm size for the three months ended January 2016 was 6ha.
