Median farm price suffers drop

The median farm price in Northland dropped to $662,500 last month from $700,000 in November, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand sales figures show.
The price fall was at odds with the rest of the country - the national median sale price bounced back in the same period.
The latest price was still well up on the $491,000 median recorded for the region in December 2009, but substantially lower than the $950,000 median for October 2008.
Sixteen farms - eight grazing, three horticulture, three forestry, one arable and one dairy - were sold in Northland last month compared to 15 in November and 18 the previous December.
The median price for a lifestyle block decreased to $277,500 in December, from $301,000 in November and $280,000 in December 2009. However, lifestyle block sales lifted to 96, compared with 82 in September and 109 in December 2009.
Information provided by the institute in relation to the rural real-estate market covers a three-month period. Therefore, references to October results refer to the period from August 1 to October 31 and references to September refer to the period from July 1 to September 30.
Nationally, a rush of dairy-property transactions last month helped lift the median farm sale price to the highest level of the year, reaching $1,150,000, up from $968,500 in November.
That was a 15 per cent increase on the median of $1 million for the last three months of 2009, but still below the median of $1,525,000 for the equivalent period in 2008.
Institute spokesman Peter McDonald said the lift in the national median price marked a return to confidence in dairying, which was more than justified by the positive returns being achieved.
Mr McDonald said not much could be read into the fact Northland was going against the national trend because the figures were based on median prices, which were unreliable if only a small number of sales took place in a region. Although it might not be reflected in the figures, Northland's rural sector was enjoying the same favourable economic conditions as the rest of country.
"The 30 dairy farms sold [nationally] in December is a huge boost for the rural sector and has brought about a significant improvement in the market.
"The upturn in sales is due to the banks re-entering the market."