A total of 1707 farms were sold in the year to August 2017 - 3.3 per cent fewer than in the previous year.
The single Northland dairy farm sold in the three months to August 31 fetched $21,941 a hectare, up from $12,666/ha for four regional dairy units sold a month earlier and a $11,321/ha medium for sales in August 2016.
The median price per hectare for dairy farms has dropped 6.5 per cent nationally over the past 12 months.
For the three months ended August 2017 the median sales price per hectare for dairy farms was $37,842 (26 properties averaging 127ha), compared to $40,469 (14 properties) for the three months ended August 2016.
On a price per kilogram of milksolids basis, the median sales price for dairy farms was $34.95kgMS for the three months ended August 2017, compared to $45.51kgMS for the same period last year (-23.2 per cent).
The median price for the 11 Northland finishing farms sold in the three months to August 31 was $29,442/ha, compared with $30,215/ha a month earlier and $17,075/ha in August last year.
The median sale price per hectare nationally for finishing farms for the three months ended August 2017 was $30,566 (124 properties averaging 44ha), compared to $27,208 (75 properties) for the same period last year.
The median price per hectare for finishing farms has risen 12.3 per cent over the past 12 months.
The 10 Northland forestry blocks sold for the three months ended August 31 brought $2521/ha, compared with $10,984/ha a year earlier. Nationally, 27 forestry blocks sold for the three months ended August 31 made $5038/ha, compared with $9882/ha a year earlier.
The 17 Northland grazing farms sold for the three months ended August 31 made $11,326/ha. The 69 grazing units averaging 76ha sold nationally in this period fetched $11,355/ha. The median price per hectare for grazing farms has fallen 25.9 per cent over the past 12 months.
The sole Northland horticultural farm sold in the three months to August 31 made $31,180/ha, the price so far below the $149,684/ha median for regional orchard sales a year earlier it indicated special unexplained circumstances for this transaction.
The median sales price per hectare nationally for horticulture farms for the three months ended August 2017 was $158,546 (46 properties averaging 8ha) compared to $190,338 (77 properties) for the same period last year.
The median price per hectare for horticulture farms has fallen 16.7 per cent over the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, although REINZ data shows there were 546 fewer lifestyle property sales (-23.2 per cent) nationally for the three months ended August 2017 than for the same period last year, the median price of lifestyle blocks increased in most regions, particularly Northland where the median price for the 238 properties sold rose 26 per cent to $480,000 from $381,000 in August 2016.
The median price of the 1808 lifestyle property sales nationally for the three months ended August 31 was $590,000, with the $1.2 million median for the 266 sales in the Auckland region in that period similar to the $1,205,000 sales median a year earlier.
