Greetings!  Land auctions were a little more active this week. There was a total of 1,990 acres offered at auction, of those acres, there were 1,719 tillable acres.  I would describe the auctions results as “showing some weakness”.  There were two “no sales” with the farms still being for sale.  On $/tillable CSR2 point, a little over half the sales had a $/tillable CSR2 point below $100/tillable CSR2 point.

We also have not seen a “no sale” let alone two “no sales” during the week for a long time.

A few of the highlights from last week:

• 157 acres sold in Franklin County for $7,300/acre - CSR/CSR2 79/83
• 145 acres sold in Polk County for $6,000/acre - CSR/CSR2 71/74
• 34 acres sold in Linn County for $10,400/acre - CSR/CSR2 73/87
• 273 acres sold in Calhoun County in two tracts 
  • Tract 1 - 80 acres $9,900/acre - CSR/CSR2 83/87
  • Tract 2 - 193 acres $9,050/acre - CSR/CSR2 79/85
• 160 acres sold in Cerro Gordo County in two tracts 
  • Tract 1 - 80 acres $5,025/acre -  CSR/CSR2 64/57
  • Tract 2 - 80 acres $2,950/acre partial crop & pasture
• 47 acres sold in Marion County for $5,100/acre - CSR/CSR2 76/79
• 149 acres sold in Grundy County for $10,200/acre - CSR/CSR2- 90/88
• 116 acres sold in Shelby County for $7,250/acre - CSR/CSR2- 68/71
• 80 acres sold in Webster County for $9,600/acre - CSR/CSR2- 83/86
• 182 acres sold in Humboldt County for $7,150/acre - CSR/CSR2- 78/83
• 97 acres sold in Black Hawk County for $6,000/acre - CSR/CSR2- 77/80
• 240 acres sold in Black Hawk County for $7,100/acre - CSR/CSR2- 83/85

Iowa Chapter of the Realtor’s Land Institute just did a press release.  Here are the quick notes from their land values survey:

• Iowa’s farmland values dropped 8.7% over the past year
• Iowa’s farmland values are down 25% from the 2013 peak
• Statewide average farmland value through September was $6,486/acre. The average value in September 2013 was $8,750/acre.
• All nine crop reporting districts showed year-over-year declines ranging from 6.7% in Northeast Iowa to 11.7% in Southwest Iowa. 
• Land Values are expected to continue to fall due to declining corn & soybean prices which are at least 45% below peaks in 2012, a drought year. 
• Timber acres climbed between 4.5% to 5.1% in south-central Iowa and southeast Iowa, where buyers are looking for hunting land. 
• One trend supporting farmland values is that there are fewer farms for sale.
• There is still strong competition for land.  With little available for sale, people are willing to pay higher prices because there aren’t other options for buying land in their area.
• Farmers still buying most of the farms with investors coming in second. 
• Very few distressed sales currently but could potentially have more in the future due to decreased profitability in farming. 

Check back next week for continued conversation on the auctions we’re seeing from around the state, and be sure to take a look at our August auction results that we just release last week.  Please make sure and hit the “like” button on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @PeoplesCompany and @TheLandTalker.

“That is my story & I’m sticking to it”.  

Thanks, Jim “the Land Talker”