Rural property sales solid

The median price per hectare for all farms sold in the three months to June 2012 was $17,565. Photo / Amos Chapple

Rural property sales volumes have been solid as the market enters the traditionally slower winter period.

There were 467 farm sales in the three months to the end of May, up 28.3 per cent from 364 sales in the three months to May 2011, figures released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (Reinz) showed.

There were 1398 farms sold in the year to May 2012, 50.3 per cent more than were sold in the year to May 2011.

The median price per hectare for all farms sold in the three months to May was $17,031, a 0.9 per cent decrease on the $17,199 recorded for the three months ended May 2011, and a decrease of 8.5 per cent on the $18,617 recorded for the three months to April 2012.

All regions, apart from Gisborne and Hawkes Bay, recorded increases in sales volumes for the three months ended May, compared to the corresponding period last year.

With a good season across the country, morale in the rural sector was positive although caution was evident due to the recent falls in product prices, Reinz rural market spokesman Brian Peacocke said. There was strength in sales for grazing properties, particularly in Taranaki, Manawatu/Wanganui, Canterbury and southern regions.

Low interest rates were tempting buyers, yet the concerns which were keeping rates low were affecting confidence, First National's latest quarterly rural property survey showed.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES