New info on land prices...

[bjkpharmd]

I've seen lately alot of big numbers being asked per acre for the rough (hunting) ground or marginal pastures. Just wondering though with the economy how much is really changing hands and what the difference is between "asking" and "selling" price.

I apologize- I haven't looked at ISU survey recently but even that may be just a bit out of date for trends.

 

[dbltree]

I know statewide that average prices have went up for all types of land from farmland to marginal/receational land.

ISU Land Survey

Average Value up

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">For the ninth year in a row the average value of Iowa farmland has increased; at least according to a survey conducted by Iowa State University (ISU) Extension. Tim Eggers </div></div>

Is the boom over?

It's pretty hard to totaly seperate farmland from timber as either one brings a premium by itself and marginal mixed farmland/CRP/timber is pretty attractive for receational ownership.

Land by me just sold for $2900 and 3000 an acre, mixed farmland/timber recreational/investment land but it's hardly selling like hotcakes either... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

[droptine37]

Marginal farmland and recreational land values have fallen since october. Going into october land in iowa across the board was up something like 21 percent. At the end of the year they revised the numbers and land values were up 16 percent year over year. High end farm ground has held its value better than the rec ground and low quality ground. Basically all sales came to a stop in september when commodity prices collapsed. Also, the amount of people with money to spend on recreational land that generally doesn't have great cash flow compared to other investments has dried up some. Another factor is the fact that 1031 exchanges has really slowed down. As of now nobody is talking about a correction like we had in the 80's because of several key differences between now and then. Prices today never went up as much as they did in the late 70's and early 80's and back then there was more debt associated to the land then there is today. I believe we will or are seeing a pull back in land prices but it won't be as severe as it was in the 80's. I would guess a 20-30 percent pullback is in order especially if commodity prices don't rebound. Don't hold me to these exact numbers because I am typing off the top of my head from an article I just read. I would post the link but I don't know how to do it from my phone.