Even though sales activity is lowest through the winter, the number of dairy farm sales in the three months to the end of July is down by a quarter and for finishing farms the fall is by a significant 45% compared to the corresponding time two years ago, Real Estate Institute rural spokesman Brian Peacocke said.
For the dry stock finishing properties the reason is mainly lack of farms for sale because demand is good.
The number of farm sales over the three-month July period was 295, down from 397 in the same period a year earlier, a 25.7% fall.
Year-on-year the fall in sales was 9% to a total 1339.
The median price for all farms sold was $23,435 a hectare for the three months, up from $21,302/ha a year earlier, a 10% gain.
At the same time, the institute’s All Farm Price Index rose 3% and the rise from June this year to July was 1.4%. The index adjusts for differences in farm size, location and farming type, which the median measure does not do.
The Dairy Price Index was a lot stronger, with a 15.2% gain year-to-year and a 17.3% gain between June and July this year.
Finishing farms also rose strongly in price year-on-year to a median $32,423/ha in the July period from $26,531/ha a year earlier, a 22.2% gain, and from $30,920/ha in the latest June period.
Grazing farms made up the biggest portion of sales, at 37% of all transactions, with finishing farms at 28%, horticulture blocks 15% and dairy farms 8%.
The median price for grazing farms for the July period was $11,138/ha, up from $10,881/ha in June and $10,196/ha in July last year. That was a year-on-year gain of 9.2%.
The median price of horticulture blocks fell sharply in the July period, at $210,458/ha, down 25% from $281,468 a year earlier.
Regionally, Nelson was a standout, with a lift in sales, whereas Manawatu-Wanganui, Waikato, and Otago had quite sharp falls compared to a year earlier.
Canterbury had some good sales of finishing farms across the Selwyn, Ashburton, and Timaru districts.
Peacocke said the warmer winter bolstered farm morale but bank credit issues and ice-shattering announcements from Fonterra mean caution remains in the dairy sector.
He described the heavy intrusion of pine tree land-use in the pastoral eastern regions as the burr in the saddle for areas already at risk from rural depopulation.
