Low sales numbers and soft prices for most farm types in July but sales of grazing properties were firm, REINZ says

The number of farms being sold around the country remains subdued.

According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, 228 farms were sold throughout NZ in the three months ending July.

That was up by 11 (+5%) compared to the three months ended June, and up by 14 (+7%) compared to three months ended July last year.

However, despite the small increase in the number of farms sold it is difficult to predict a trend.

That's because farm sales generally follow regular seasonal trends, regardless of whether sales are up or down compared to previous years.

But as the graph below shows, sales so far this year have remained flat, with relatively minor monthly variations up or down.

If anything, the sales pattern suggests farm sales have levelled off at a fairly low level this year, after a period of steady decline.

The prices being achieved also look a bit flat, with an average price per hectare of $26,755 for all the farms sold in the three months to July, which was more or less where it's been for the last five months.

The REINZ All Farm Price Index, which adjusts for differences in sales by farm type, size and location, increased by 0.8% between June and July this year but was down by 10.7% compared to July last year.

The sales figures for the differing farm types also look mostly on the soft side.

There were 24 dairy farms sold in the three months ended July, down 20% compared to the same period last year, and the median price per hectare was $35,705 in July, down 6.4% compared to July last year.

The drop in price was in spite of the median price per kg of milk solids increasing by 9.6% over the same period.

There were 45 finishing farm sales in the three months to July, down 31% compared to the same period of last year, while the median price per hectare was $33,520, down 3.4% compared to the same period of last year.

Horticultural farm sales numbers held up reasonably well with 22 sales in the three months to July, exactly the same number as a year earlier, but the price took a hammering with the median price per hectare dropping to $245,630 in July, down 47% compared to a year earlier.

Horticultural property prices appear to have been on a steady slide for the last two years.

Grazing properties were the stars of the show in the latest figures, with 67 sales in the three months to July, up 20% compared to the same period a year earlier, while the median price per hectare of $15,600 was up 15% compared to a year earlier.

July was also the first time that the median price per hectare for grazing properties had been above $15,000 since interest.co.nz began collating the figures in 2020.

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