The three month median price for dairying properties was $3.1 million in August, a third lower than the high two years earlier of $4.65m, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) says.Only 17 dairy farms were sold in the three months to August, on
The three month median price for dairying properties was $3.1 million in August, a third lower than the high two years earlier of $4.65m, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) says.
Only 17 dairy farms were sold in the three months to August, one down on the same period last year and well below the 67 transactions in the three months to August 2008.
Just three dairy farms sold in August at an average price of $2.54m, with the average price per hectare down to $31,598 from $36,435 in July, the latest REINZ Rural Market Report statistics released today show.
The average price per kilogram of milk solids fell further to $33, from $37 in July, $40 in June and $45 in May.
From a peak of $90,125 in August 2009, the average price per hectare of all types of farms was down to $29,739. The 192 farms sold in the three months to the end of August was up on the 183 in the same period last year, but less than the 516 transactions in the three months to August 2008.
The national median farm sale price did lift, easing up from $1.12m for the three months to July to $1.13m for the three months to August.
While being well down on the median of $1.74m for the equivalent period in 2008, the latest August figure is slightly above the median for all farms of $1m for the same three months in 2009.
But REINZ was wary of how statistics were being affected by the current low number of sales.
On a regional basis the largest number of farm sales during the three months to August was 31 in Canterbury, 24 of them grazing properties, and 27 in Southland, 11 of them grazing properties, REINZ said.
During the past year median prices for farms fell in eight out of 14 areas.
Lifestyle property sales fell from 1088 at the end of July to 1066 in the three months to the end of August, and the national median selling price eased from $447,500 at the end of July to $436,750 last month.
While last month's median is up on $430,000 for the same three month period in 2009, it is below the August 2008 median of $450,000.
