Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do...

   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #1  

ATP

Bronze Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
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96
Location
Land Between the Lakes
Tractor
John Deere 3038e and LS K 5047
What are land prices gonna do over the next 5-10 yrs....20 yrs......?
Good time to buy at current rates...?
thanks for input....:)
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #2  
In this "economy" who knows. Here we are back to early 2000 prices and they are flat...we are not seeing any move upward. You would think with interest rates so low folks would be in a buying frenzy, but they are not and it might be a mistake as rates have to go up.
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #3  
There are lots of large parcels around me for sale that are just sitting. It would be a good time to buy if you have the money and or financing but I guess having neither is the problem for most folks.
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #4  
I agree that prices are low and interest rates amazingly so. If you see something you really like, I'd say go for it; but don't expect to make any money for a decade or so. I see prices staying flat for a long time.
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #5  
I can offer my opinion on farmland in Minnesota, Iowa, related states in the cornbelt. Its going up gradually from here. It will follow inflation, at very least. Also will follow comodity prices, which will follow inflation unless more drought drives them higher yet suddenly. A couple months ago in Iowa, 80 acres was purchased by a local farmer for the highest price ever paid in Iowa for farmland - I beleive it was $21,500 per acre. Yea guys, thats nearly 1.75 million for an 80 !!! Interestingly, there were four other bidders until $20,000 was hit. These are guys with cash in hand, not speculators but farmers. They realize that the cash is worth far less than the land. Your choice is: hold cash that will be worth 4% less every year due to inflation or put it into an investment. Gold pays no dividends at all. Stocks are so questionable due to the games being played in the market. Farmland earns 4-5% per year renting it out to an operator, and has gone up in value since the last correction in the 80's. In the 80's most farmers were highly leveraged. Today the average debt is much lower, and in many cases is zero, except for a yearly operating loan. Land I bought in 2008 is now worth twice as much as it was then, and it has earned 4-5% every year. Imagine an investment that you can buy, rent out to collect 5%, appreciates every year with rent amount following value, will pay for itself in 20 years, is excellent loan collateral, can't be stolen. Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had purchased twice as much in 2008. The problem is finding some for sale. Most sales take place without publicity to a neighbor or friend. You need to get your feelers out to brokers, to get them to call you as soon as something comes up. There are lots of good tools online now for the counties, to allow you to determine the land's value in crop raising, helping you put a price on it, or at least comparing it to other land. The county ASCS office can help get you started.
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #6  
Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had purchased twice as much in 2008. The problem is finding some for sale. Most sales take place without publicity to a neighbor or friend. You need to get your feelers out to brokers, to get them to call you as soon as something comes up. There are lots of good tools online now for the counties, to allow you to determine the land's value in crop raising, helping you put a price on it, or at least comparing it to other land. The county ASCS office can help get you started.

Farmland here has also doubled since around 2009, higher than what the mini-farm land companies were paying and in some cases charging a few years before that. I guess alot of what happens is going to be dependant on corn/bean prices???
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #7  
Good farm ground doesn't change hands often. We have some farms here that are over 150 years old.
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #8  
They don't make anymore of it and what we have is in short supply. Way up in the next 10-20 yrs. I gave $320 per acre for my first farm in 1973 and now farms around me are selling for $3000 to $3500 per acre. Ken Sweet
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #9  
What Jimgerken says also is happening in Illinois. Prices are very high and seem to be staying high. I haven't heard of 20,000 and acre yet, but have heard of 13,000 an acre. The rough ground is also selling high, what was selling for under $1000 and acres is selling for $3000 an acres or higher. A lot of that is due to the fact that the deer hunting has become big buisness in my area.
 
   / Whats everyone thing land prices are gonna do... #10  
Their is a lot of land around this area mostly being sold by Timber companys for less than two thousand an acre but they are all retaining the mineral rights and it is usually the less productive land. I just bought eighty acres for two thousand an acre with mineral rights as an investment. Money in the bank is loosing value, at least I have use of the land for hunting or whatever and hopefully can make a little off of it later on.
Richard
 
 
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