Iowa Land Auction Prices, December 16-22, 2016

Posted on December 27, 2016 at 11:00 AM by Jim Rothermich

Greetings! There were a total of 2,742 acres offered at auction, of those acres, there were 2,314 tillable acres. I would describe the auction results as “stable” for quality farms and seeing some “weakness” on lower quality farms. There were two “no sales” last week. A few of the highlights:

236 acres sold in Hardin County in two tracts:
- Tract 1- 116 acres- $8,050/acre- 115 tillable acres- CSR2- 79.0
- Tract 2- 120 acres- $7,300/acre- 117 tillable acres- CSR2- 79.0
79 acres sold in Union County- $6,100/acre- 72 tillable acres- CSR2- 73
159 acres sold in O’Brien County sold in two tracts:
- Tract 1- 87 acres- $9,300/acre- 80 tillable acres- CSR2- 92.0
- Tract 2- 73 acres- $11,900/acre- 73 tillable acres- CSR2- 92.0
100 acres sold in Monona County- $3,500/acre- 98 tillable acres- CSR2- 57.0 (this tract was Missouri River Bottom)
159 acres sold in Woodbury County in three tracts (buyers choice) buyer took all three tracts for $9,500/acre- 159 tillable acres- CSR2- 81.0
162 acres sold in Scott County- $8,450/acre- 145 tillable acres- CSR2- 78.0
200 acres sold in Washington County- $4,100/acre- 81 tillable acres (mostly recreation tract)
401 acres sold in Woodbury & Monona County- Missouri River Bottom- three tracts
- Tract 1- 113 acres- $5,625/acre- 111 tillable acres- CSR2- 67.0
- Tract 2- 192 acres- $3,950/acre- 192 tillable acres- CSR2- 59.0
- Tract 3- 96 acres- $4,700/acre- 95 tillable acres- CSR2- 69.0
746 acres sold in Appanoose & Davis County in seven tracts:
- Tract 1- 134 acres- $2,900/acre- 111 tillable acres- CSR2- 66.0
- Tracts 2 & 3- 109 acres- $1,700/acre (pasture)
- Tract 4- 133 acres- $3,100/acre- 92 tillable acres- CSR2- 50.0
- Tract 5- 80 acres- $2,500/acre- 59 tillable acres- CSR2- 31.0
- Tract 6- 40 acres- $2,375/acre- 31 tillable acres- CSR2- 37.0
- Tract 7- 250 acres- no sale
80 acres sold in Henry County- 80 acres- $9,050/acre- 79 tillable acres- CSR2- 85.0
153 acres sold in Henry County in two tracts:
- Tract 1- 72 acres- $14,100/acre- 72 tillable acres- CSR2- 83.0 (2017 rent $357/acre)
- Tract 2- 81 acres- $11,100/acre- 80 tillable acres- CSR2- 80.0 (2017 rent $338/acre)
117 acres sold in Keokuk County- 117 tillable acres- $5,900/acre- CSR2- 66.0
153 acres sold in Wright County- 150 tillable acres- $7,000/acre- CSR2- 86.0
216 acres sold in Floyd & Chickasaw County in six tracts:
- Tract 1- 40 acres- $5,450/acre- 39 tillable acres- CSR2- 71.0
- Tract 2- 49 acres- $8,250/acre- 46 tillable acres- CSR2- 87.0
- Tract 3- 40 acres- $6,725/acre- 36 tillable acres- CSR2- 77.0
- Tract 4- 44 acres- $6,525/acre- 39 tillable acres- CSR2- 78.0
- Tract 5- 26 acres- (acreage & pasture) no sale
- Tract 6- 17 acres- $3,025/acre- wooded pasture
156 acres sold in Delaware County- $9,000/acre- 155 tillable acres- CSR2- 88.0
150 acres sold in Dickinson County in three tracts (buyers choice):
- Tracts 1 & 3- 100 acres- $8,100/acre- 99 tillable acres- CSR2- 93.0
- Tract 2- 50 acres- $2,300/acre (pasture)

As I called around getting auction results, realtors continue to say good quality land is selling very well. A comment I heard a couple of times last week is the buyer was an investor. I heard this with more frequency than I have in the past. A couple items I extracted from last week’s auction results:

One of the auctions was split by a Railroad and appears to show a 20% discount for excessive point rows.
One of the farms that sold in the Missouri River Bottom was rented immediately after the auction for $225/acre. Very aggressive rent for what the farm sold for.
Another farm in the Missouri River Bottom was rented for $250/acre. Very aggressive rent for what the farms sold for.
One of the farms that sold in Washington County had very aggressive rent.
It appears from a couple of the pasture tracts that were sold that there may be some weakness in pasture tracts.
The amount of land auctions coming up in January is down considerably. One of the legs keeping the land market up is the low amount of land being sold. Stay tuned next month and we will see if low supply for sale will keep land prices stable.

“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!” Please check back next week to see what the Iowa land market is doing.