Iowa Land Auction Prices, May 26-June 1, 2017

Posted on June 5, 2017 at 9:00 AM by Jim Rothermich

Greetings! Slightly fewer acres of land were offered at auction this week compared to last week’s results. 506 acres were auctioned, of which 464 acres were tillable. All farms sold. The market is still very stable. I would consider one of the auctions “light” since a family member purchased this farm. All in all, the market is stable with very little currently for sale. Here are the highlights:

76 acres sold in Hancock County- $9,500/acre- 72 tillable acres- CSR2- 84.0
236 acres sold in Clay County- $5,500/acre- all tillable- CSR2- 72.0 (Ocheyedan River Bottom)
194 acres sold in Winneshiek County- $4,600/acre- 156 tillable acres- CSR2- 62.0

According to the recent Iowa State (ISU) Soil Management and Land Valuation Conference last month, farmland values have “stabilized.”Since 1964, attendees at the conference have projected average land values for the end of the year and into the future. Attendees include real-estate brokers, farm managers, farm operators, farmland investors and farm lenders. Their responses include a wide range of optimistic and pessimistic projections.

This year’s poll finds attendees looking for a statewide average farmland price of $7,863 an acre by year end — essentially no change from their opinion in 2016. In addition, they project a statewide average farmland price of $7,849 an acre by the end of 2018, also a similar prediction from last year. This translates into two years of basically no change in the average value of an acre of Iowa farmland. That’s a sign this group of land pros sees the state’s farmland market stabilizing after declining from its 2013 highs.

The group also expects values will edge higher after 2018. They project an average acre of Iowa farmland will rise by nearly 6%, reaching $8,307 an acre by 2020. They expect that uptrend to continue, projecting values will rise to $9,632 an acre (a 22.5% increase) by 2025, and surge to $12,841 an acre (a 63% increase) by 2040.(Source: Ag Web)

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