Newbold said some of the interest for sheep and beef property had been propped up by forestry, but there was other demand.
Sheep and beef farmers were seeking to upgrade from a 3000-stock unit property to a 6000-stock unit farm or build on their property base and dairy farmers were seeking more grazing land in traditional "heartland" area such as parts of Canterbury, Otago, Southland and Waikato. City groups new to farming were also wanting to invest.
"I think sheep and beef will stay strong. The challenge will be the availability of listings. Yes, we have been selling dairy, but there's not the same enthusiasm as sheep and beef. I'm not being negative, but there's probably more energy."
He said there was an argument that a good time to sell a dairy farm was during a high payout, but a lot of reasonably sized farms were worth $10 million to $15 million.
There was possibly a stand-off between buyers and sellers with price expectations. The question marks over compliance and the environment were also having a bearing, he said.
"Then again we have sold a good number of [dairy farms], but it's not as free-flowing as other sectors."
The company has seen strong sales in Otago, Southland and North Canterbury as well as Mid Canterbury for dairy and sheep and beef properties.
The outlook was promising with potential risks including the fallout from the Ukraine crisis and, in the short term, meat processors becoming short-handed when teams become sick with Covid-19.
Newbold said kiwifruit sales were on the rise with listings appearing because growers were dealing with family succession and retirement or wanted to sell in order to develop another block.
Bay of Plenty orchards were selling for $2 million per canopy hectare with PGGW selling a block for nearly $38 million and another for $37 million.
Nationally, Colliers has had more listings, greater demand, and higher prices across the country, the traditional slow start to the year being almost non-existent.
The company says rising dairy farm values are being spurred by Fonterra lifting its forecast milk payment to a new record level at the end of January.
Rural director in Christchurch Richard O'Sullivan said more than $300 million in dairy farm assets, about 30 farms, were expected to be sold in Canterbury this season.
That was up on 18 dairy farms sold in the 2020-21 season, and eight in 2019-20, he said.
O'Sullivan said the certainty of a $9-plus milk price for next season was bringing in new entrants with equity backing from established operators or family farming businesses.
So far this year he had sold a 226ha property in Geraldine to a first-farm buyer, a 250ha dairy farm in Oxford for $11.85 million and another Waitaki Valley farm for sale by deadline will close in early March.
Southland and Otago sales volumes and prices are also trending upwards.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand recorded $242 million in dairy farm sales in the region last year, compared with just $85 million in 2020.
Farms were also changing hands at higher prices, the average price increasing by more than $1 million the past year.
Colliers says horticulture land is leading the pack in property value, particularly kiwifruit and avocado orchards in the Bay of Plenty.
A new high of $2.1 million per hectare is being set for gold kiwifruit.
