A solid start to 2021

Overall, there were 517 farm sales in the three months ending January 2021, compared to 520 farm sales for the three months ending December 2020, down 0.6%.

1,486 farms were sold in the year to January 2021, up 16.4% from the year ending January 2020.

The median price per hectare for all farms sold in the three months to January 2021 was $25,868 compared to $21,221 recorded for three months ending January 2020. The median price per hectare decreased 5.3% compared to December 2020.

Eleven of the 14 regions recorded an increase in the number of farm sales for the three months ending January 2021 compared to the three months ending January 2020, with the most notable being Waikato and Canterbury.

Otago recorded the most notable decline in sales.

Brian Peacocke, rural spokesman at REINZ, says “Sales data for the three month period ending January 2021 confirms most categories of rural properties were comfortably ahead in terms of volumes of sales compared to the same periods in 2020 and 2019.”

He says that while figures reflect the resilience in the rural sector in spite of environmental and health constraints.

“The current mood in the rural sector is one of determination, with the will to cope with climatic and market variations, backed up by an underlying feeling of cautious optimism, irrespective of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic which is particularly greater in the off-shore markets as opposed to the New Zealand internal market.”