Week 14 Iowa Farmland Auction Results | What’s Your Farm Worth?

Iowa Farmland Sales Summary

Iowa farmland prices week 14, thank you for joining us here on the DreamDirt blog.  This report measures the prices achieved at auction for farms that are at least 80% tillable.

Our charts this week show the prices achieved at Iowa farmland auctions for the 14th week of 2018 and the market has not changed much.  We are still seeing the low volume of farmland sales.  Auction companies across Iowa have very little on their schedules in the next 30 days.  We continue to see the trend line for price per CSR2 point increasing and the trend line for price per acre increasing.  It is interesting to look at the volume charts and note that the volume of acres sold at auction is decreasing (supply) and the volume sold in dollars in increasing ($price/demand)  This is due to increasing farmland values across Iowa.  You have heard the saying “As supply decreases, demand increases” and those two charts show exactly that for 2018 farmland prices in Iowa.

Average Price Of Farmland In Iowa

The averages price of an acre of farmland in Iowa this week was $8679.17 which was up from the previous week of $7821.59 per acre.  The trend line for this category continues to point upward indicating a rise in farmland values from Jan 1, 2018, til now.  Low volume continues to contribute to this upward motion in farmland prices and really is the driving factor.  Many comments on the fact that commodity prices are low right now and farmland should be too.  In theory, the value of an asset is directly correlated to its ability to create income but that theory is too short-sighted for farmland values as farmland in most cases tends to be a long-term investment.  I wrote an article on this a few months ago that might interest you Why Farmland Values Won’t Come Down.

Farmland Sales Volume In Iowa

No surprises here this week.  Farmland sales volume was on the low end of the chart this week in terms of acres and dollars sold coming in 5th from the bottom out of 14 weeks this year.  $7,876,186.50 in total transactions this week on 932.82 total acres of which 877.32 were tillable (94% tillable)

Volume over the next few months is likely to drop which is evidenced by a lower number of farmland auctions on calendars over the next 40 days and planting season is upon us.  Many auction companies typically try to avoid auctions during the 45 day planting season from April 15 to May 30.  Farms will sell fine during that time but if it’s not necessary to sell during that time period it makes sense to hold off a little and ensure you have everybody’s full attention.

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