The median price for the three months to the end of July was $21,302 a hectare, a 21.6% fall from the $27,158 figure at the corresponding time in 2017, according to Real Estate Institute figures.
However, the group’s All Farm Price Index rose 3.7% over the year.
The institute regards its All farm index as the most accurate barometer of prices because it makes adjustments for farm type and location and the size of the property, whereas the median figures don’t.
In the three months to the end of July the median price fell 2% compared to the three months to June this year but the All Farm Price Index rose 5.6%.
Grazing farms made up 36% of sales in the three-month period, ahead of finishing farms at 31%, horticulture units at 11% and dairy properties 10%.
With the mid-winter focus on calving, dairy farm sales activity was very light nationally, with just Waikato reporting reasonable business levels, the institute’s rural spokesman Brian Peacocke said.
He believes the increasing age of dairy farmers and issues finding farm labour could lead to a solid number of dairy farms coming to market this sales season.
Over all farm types there were 17 more sales in Waikato, including steady finishing farm turnover, in the three-months than at the same time a year earlier.
Manawatu-Wanganui had the greatest lift, up by 24 sales, and Hawke’s Bay had 12 more.
Canterbury had the biggest decline with 26 fewer sales and Auckland dropped by 12 sales.
Across the country activity levels were reasonably consistent with last year but 15% lower than at the same time in 2016, Peacocke said.
Horticulture unit sales were down in volume but kiwifruit sector values mean the median price per hectare jumped to $281,468 from $149,251 a year earlier.
The dairy farm median price for the period was $31,881/ha, the same as in the June period, but down from $36,332 for July last year.
That is a 12.3% decline, consistent with the 14.5% slide in the Dairy Farm Price Index, which adjusts for farm type, size, and location.
Finishing farm median prices rose slightly to $26,531/ha in the July period from $26,245 in June but were down from $30,882 for July last year, a 14% fall, and on lower turnover.
For grazing properties, the latest median price is $10,196/ha, down from $11,274 a year earlier, a 9.6% fall.
Total sales numbers for the latest period were 397, down from 427 for the June period and close to the 392 sales of a year earlier.
