Farm sales rising

Data released by REINZ shows there were 193 more farm sales for the three months ending in May 2021 than for the three months ending in May 2020.

A total of 1,716 farms have been sold in the year to May 2021, 52% more than in the year to May 2020.

In the year to May 2021, 124.3% more dairy farms and 77.8% more dairy support properties were sold.

Brian Peacocke, rural spokesman for REINZ, says these sales figures confirm an emerging trend for the latter part of the season, “whereby an increasing degree of confidence is emerging from within the rural sector.”

“Driven by an optimistic outlook for the full range of product, the dairy sector is the major beneficiary of the upswing with sales volumes well ahead of those relating to the equivalent periods in 2019 and 2020,” he says.

For the three months ending May 2021, the median sales price per hectare for dairy farms was $32,170.

This marks a $7,350 rise from the same period in 2020.

On a price per kgMS basis, the median sales price equates to $33.22 /kgMS for the three months ending May 2021, compared to $32.50 /kgMS for the same period in 2020.

Dairy farms also accounted for 20% of all farm sales.

All 13 regions of New Zealand recorded an increase in the number of farm sales with the most notable being in the Waikato, and Northland.

“From a climatic perspective, significant parts of the country have swung from one extreme to another, with drought ending deluges and significant damage in parts of Canterbury to much needed rain across the easter regions of the North Island,” says Peacocke.

“The more fortunate provinces of Waikato, Taranaki and Southland in particular have experienced one of the best autumns and early winter grass growing periods for many years.”