Farm prices fall 30pc

Auckland lifestyle vendors buying small to medium beef units has been a highlight of Northland farm sales over the past three months.

Good activity in Northland on dry stock properties, with solid inquiries from Auckland lifestyle vendors for small to medium beef units was a highlight of the Real Estate Institute of NZ (REINZ) report on farm sales in the three months to April 30.

Other highlights noted in the report included a moderate inquiry for Northland dairy farms in anticipation of the spring market and there was a strong focus on marginal land by apiarists.

But milk's price doldrums affected farm sales and the five Northland dairy units sold in the three months to April 30 had a median price of $12,563 a hectare, down from $18,014/ha at the same time last year.

It was the lowest price for dairy farm sales in the country, except for the Auckland region where median prices were down to $8111 a hectare from $35,281/ha a year ago.

Median dairy farm sale prices per hectare in other regions included: Waikato $40,850 ($53,832 in April 2015). Bay of Plenty $19,953 ($31,303). Taranaki $37,465 ($56,269), West Coast $23,649 ($33,732), Canterbury $44,706 ($52,224).

Compared to April 2015, the REINZ Dairy Farm Price Index fell by 24.1 per cent.

The sale of 30 Northland grazing units was the biggest transaction recorded in rural land sales in the region for the three months to April 30.

Their median sales price was $8985 a hectare, down from $18,553/ha a year ago.

The national median for grazing property sales, averaging 51ha, was $15.126/ha, down 9.6 per cent over the past 12 months.

Seven Northland finishing farms were sold in the three months to April 30, bringing $21,484 a hectare, up from $9426/ha a year ago.

The median price for finishing farms has risen 17.6 per cent nationally over the past 12 months.

Five Northland horticulture properties sold in the past three months averaged $161,667 a hectare.

The median sales price of the 74 horticulture farms sold nationally to April 30 was $244,365/ha, not far short of the $266,883 median for 73 horticulture blocks sold nationally at the same time last year.

Three Northland forestry blocks sold in the quarter to April 30 made $5715 a hectare, down from $8250/ha for regional sales a year ago.

Meanwhile, 247 Northland lifestyle blocks changed hands in the past three months, 41 more than in the same period last year.

There were 2376 lifestyle property sales nationally in the three months to April 30, the highest number of sales for 12 years, and the national median sales price for lifestyle blocks rose by $10,000 over the past 12 months to $562,500.

The 8719 lifestyle properties sold nationally in the year to April 30 were 31.1 per cent more than were sold in the previous year and the highest number of annual sales since August 2004.